page_title: Billy Mills
section_title: Post-Olympics
hierarchical_section_title: Billy Mills / Biography / Post-Olympics
caption_attribution_description: English: Billy Mills, the only American to win a 10,000-meter race in an Olympics, speaks to the audience for the American Indian Heritage Month observance Nov. 23 at Sgt. Smith Theater on Schofield Barracks.
context_page_description: William Mervin Mills, also known as Tamakoce Te'Hila, is an Oglala Lakota former track and field athlete who won a gold medal in the 10,000 meter run at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. His 1964 victory is considered one of the greatest Olympic upsets because he was a virtual unknown going into the event. He was the first non-European to win the Olympic event and remains the only winner from the Americas. A United States Marine, Billy Mills is a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe.
context_section_description: Mills later set U.S. records for 10,000 m (28:17.6) and the three-mile run, and had a 5,000 m best of 13:41.4. In 1965, he and Gerry Lindgren both broke the world record for the six-mile run when they finished in a tie at the AAU National Championships, running 27:11.6.
caption: Mills speaking at Schofield Barracks in November 2010
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