Peter Snell Abridged

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Olympic Stories

Four runners take their positions for the first Collection heat in the 800m race at the Rome Olympic

Museum Games in 1960. Three of them are well-known ympic runners but the fourth is at his first Games and l O is a young, strongly-built, young man. The

NZOC media don’t know much about this runner except that he is called Peter Snell and is from

New Zealand. Surprisingly, he wins the heat and then wins again to make the semi-finals. Again, Snell runs well, earning himself a place in the 800m final. In the 800m final the unknown Snell runs powerfully down the back straight. He slips through a gap that opens up between other runners and throws himself at the finish line to win the Olympic Gold medal.

At the age of 21 Peter Snell had come out of nowhere to claim a gold medal in one of the most famous events of the Olympic Games. Just 35 minutes later, his good friend Murray Halberg won the gold medal in the 5000m race. Together they stood in the stadium and celebrated one of the Peter Snell in training. most amazing hours for New Zealand sport on the world stage.

Peter was born in Opunake, Taranaki, in 1938. As a child Peter learnt swimming and played tennis, rugby, badminton, golf, cricket and hockey. He had no bike so he ran between home and school. He was fit and full of energy.

Peter went to high school at Mt Albert Grammar in

Auckland but was more interested in sport than his Collection classwork. Despite his talent for sport and his Museum interest in the British Empire (Commonwealth)

Games, which were held in Auckland in 1950, Peter ympic l O did not imagine he could be an Olympic athlete. He has said, ‘As a teenager I had no idea that I had the NZOC potential to win an Olympic Gold medal. My athletic career developed only by lucky circumstances.”

Peter was the school tennis champion and was concentrating on tennis when a friend introduced him to Arthur Lydiard. Lydiard was an Auckland athletic coach with new coaching methods. He believed the secret to success as a track runner was to build up stamina through long-distance running – up to 160km per week. Regular speed

trials were also put in to develop the killer sprint. Collection Lydiard believed in training seven days a week Museum which no one did in those days!

ympic l O

NZOC Taking Up Running

Peter joined the Owairaka Athletic Club after meeting Lydiard. He became one of “Arthur’s Boys”, a strong group of athletes who trained together. It was tough, but it was fun. Peter clearly remembers his first run around the Waiatarua circuit, a 35 kilometre trail through steep bush.

Peter had to stop and walk during that run and when he finished his body ached and he burst into tears of embarrassment. But he stuck at it, and quickly started to improve his times and his stamina with more training sessions. Peter Snell (left) and Arthur Lydiard, Rome Olympic Games 1960.

“Arthur gave us the right sort of training and he was a tremendous

said Peter. motivator”,

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Rome Olympic Museum Games 1960 ympic

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It was in the 1958/1959 season that Peter really made a breakthrough in his running. Murray Halberg NZOC had just become the first New Zealander to run a mile in under four minutes, and then Peter beat him in a 2,000m race. Shortly after this, Peter broke the

New Zealand 880-yard (800m) record.

Peter was selected for the New Zealand team to compete at the 1960 Rome Olympic Games. There was criticism of his selection as he was ranked only 26th in the world in the 800m.

Peter was upset that Arthur Lydiard was not selected as coach for the Olympic team, even though Lydiard usually coached five of the runners Murray Halberg (left) and Peter Snell (right). on the team. An appeal was launched and donations from Aucklanders meant Lydiard was able to go to Rome as an unofficial coach.

Both Murray Halberg and Peter believed that without Lydiard’s tactical help in preparing for each race, and his belief in their ability to win, they would not have achieved their great results.

And so Peter won his first Gold medal in an Olympic

record time of 1 minute, 46.3

seconds. Collection

Museum

ympic l O When Peter returned to New Zealand after the

Rome Olympic Games, he started working as an NZOC apprentice quantity surveyor. He was not paid a lot as an apprentice and had no car, so he either biked or ran to work to save time and money. People who travelled on his local bus took great interest in his training as he often beat the bus!

Peter Snell winning Gold at the 1960 Rome Olympic Games

World Records Collection and Competition Museum

After their success at the Rome Olympics, a world ympic l

O tour was organised for Lydiard and a team of his athletes in 1961. For Peter, the highlight of this tour NZOC was the attempt to break the record for the 4 × 1 mile relay in Dublin.

Peter teamed up with Halberg, Gary Philpott and Barry Magee. Surprising everyone, New Zealand broke the record with a true team effort where everyone excelled. Peter regards sharing this victory as one of the great moments in his athletic career.

Early in 1962 Peter broke three world records in eight days. The most famous of these was at Cooks Garden in Whanganui, where on th January 27 he ran the first mile in under four minutes ever to be run in New Zealand.

It was also a world record as Peter ran the mile in 3 minutes, 54.4 seconds. It seemed like half the Some of Lydiard’s runners on a training run. Peter population of Whanganui crowded the track to Snell is second from right. share in the excitement of this incredible race.

“I don’t think I have ever felt such a glorious feeling of strength and speed without strain as I did during those final exhilarating 300 yards”, Snell’s former world Peter said after the race. records of 1 minute,

In Christchurch a few days later he broke both the 44.3 seconds for 800m and 880 yard world records in the same race. The next few months, as he prepared for the 800m, set on Commonwealth Games, were extremely difficult for rd Peter. His father died, he had to cope with a series February 3 1962, of injuries, and the sporting media expected him to and 2 minutes, 16.6 win every time he raced. seconds for 1000m And Peter didn’t let them down, winning gold medals in both the mile and half-mile events at the Perth set on November th Commonwealth Games. 12 1964, remain the New Zealand national records for these distances.

Games 1964 The lead up to the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo Then, looking around, he realised to his horror was tough. Peter was running twice a day and that he was boxed in by runners all around doing the Waiatarua circuit on Sundays. He pulled a him. He extended his arm and the athlete from thigh muscle and noted in his diary that he couldn’t Britain, with the manners of a true gentleman, care less if he got to the Olympic Games or not. moved aside. Peter Snell had a clear run to the This was a low point in his training, but several days tape from 200m out. He powered away and later he turned in an excellent time trial which gave again felt the relief of the winning tape on his him the mental lift he needed. chest.

Peter had made a decision to run the 800m / Peter Snell climbed onto the podium to be 1500m double in Tokyo. These races had only ever been won by the same runner once before at presented with his third Olympic gold medal the Olympics, in 1920. He remembers feeling and watched in delight as fellow New doubts – would he, by trying to do too much, miss Zealander, John Davies, was presented with out on medals in both races? the bronze medal. It was a great day for New Zealand athletics! In the meantime, Peter had also been selected as the flagbearer for the New Zealand team at the Opening Ceremony.

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All around the stadium at the 1964 Tokyo Ge Olympic Games, crowds are cheering. Peter Snell is on the track and is the crowd favourite for the 800m final.

Snell has won his semi-final in the 800m but knew that the Olympic record had been broken in the other semi-final. In the 800m final, Snell’s race plan fell apart as other competitors made unexpected moves. But

Peter was running easily and surged ahead strongly to beat his two main rivals. He was relieved to win but was just as pleased to set a new world record.

The next day Peter lined up for the 1500m heats, but only came fourth in the slowest heat of the day. This was a disappointing result but this was also the first time he had ever raced the 1500m distance. Luckily, his time was fast Peter Snell winning gold and John Davies winning enough to make the semi-finals and a rest day bronze in the 1500m at the 1964 Tokyo Olympic allowed his legs to recover. Games.

Peter won the semi-final which boosted his confidence. In the 1500m final Peter raced comfortably at the back of the field waiting for the right moment to sprint.

Life after Competition

Peter Snell retired from racing in 1965 at the age of Collection

26. He was married, so he needed to earn a living Museum and there was no money in running in those days. ympic l O

Peter moved to the USA to further his education in 1971. He gained a Bachelor of Science in Human NZOC Performance from the University of California, followed by a PhD in Exercise Physiology from Washington State University – pretty good for a boy who failed University Entrance when he was a teenager! Peter joined the University of Texas and became the Director of their Human Performance Centre in 1990.

As well as studying the effects of exercise on the human body, Peter has continued to exercise for his own health. He started orienteering when he was in his early fifties and became a champion in his age group. Peter Snell - the NZ Sports Champion of the 20th Century award.

Peter became Sir Peter Snell in 2009 when he was knighted. His Olympic achievements were celebrated on a New Zealand postage stamp in Bibliography 2004, and in 2007 a bronze statue of Snell crossing the finish line at Cooks Gardens was put up in his Athletes of the Century: 100 Years of New Zealand hometown of Opunake. Track and Field, by Peter Heidenstrom. GP Publications, Wellington 1992.

Peter was voted New Zealand’s Sports Champion of Be the Best You Can Be. transcription of the 20th Century in 2000 by the Halberg Trust, in interview with NZOC. partnership with the New Zealand Sports Hall of The Champions: New Zealand’s Olympic Gold Medallists, Fame. by Tony Smith. The Press, Christchurch 2008. The Games, by Ron Palenski and Terry Maddaford. Moa Publications, Auckland 1983. Photos courtesy of Getty Images and Makers of Champions: Great New Zealand Coaches, NZOC Olympic Museum Collection. by Joseph Romanos. Mills Publications, Lower Hutt 1987. Memorable Moments in New Zealand Sport, ed. Don Cameron. Moa Publications, Auckland 1979. New Zealand’s Top 100 Sports History-Makers, by Joseph Romanos. Trio Books Ltd., Wellington 2006. No Bugles, No Drums, by Garth Gilmour and Peter Snell. Minerva Ltd., Auckland 1965. Olympic Legends: The Book of New Zealand’s Olympic Medallists, by Paul Verdon. Hill-Verdon Publishing Ltd., Auckland 2006. Our Olympic Century, by Joseph Romanos. Trio Books Ltd., Wellington 2008. Peter Snell, From Olympian to Scientist, by Peter Snell and Garth Gilmour. Penguin Books,