Nick Willis Discipline: Middle Distance Running Specialist Events: 800M and 1500M

Home , Jack Lovelock, John Walker (runner), Nick Willis, Peter Snell

CHAT with a Olympic Education CHAMPION Nick Willis Discipline: Middle distance running Specialist events: 800m and 1500m

Nick Willis was born in Lower Hutt (near Wellington) in 1983.Running talent obviously runs in the Willis family, as Nick and his brother Steve are the only brothers in the history of New Zealand to run a mile in less than 4 minutes. When he was at Hutt Valley High School in January 2001, Nick became the fastest New Zealand student to run a mile in just 4 minutes and 1.33 seconds. After high school, Nick was awarded an athletics scholarship at the University of Michigan in the United States of America. He thrived in the environment, and his running went from strength to strength. He represented New Zealand at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games and the 2005 World Championships, reaching the semi- final each time. At the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games, Nick took the Gold Medal in the 1500m. In 2008, he reached the final of the 1500m at the Beijing Olympic Games. After a tight race, Nick finished third to claim the Bronze Medal. In 2009, the winner of the race, Rashid Ramzi, was disqualified because of a positive drug test. So Nick’s Bronze Medal was upgraded to a Silver. (For further information on Nick’s experiences at the 2008 Olympic Games, see “It Pays to Play Fair” in the Living the Olympic Values resource, http:// www.olympic.org.nz/education/living-olympic-values) At the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, Nick was recovering from knee surgery, but he didn’t let this stop him from winning the Bronze Medal. Nick Willis currently lives in Michigan with his wife Sierra, when he isn’t travelling to train and compete.

For more about Nick, see the Living the Olympic Values resource, available from http://www.olympic.org.nz/education/living- olympic-values

Career highlights 2010: Bronze Medal in the 1500m at the Delhi Commonwealth Games (3 min 42.38 sec). 2008: Silver Medal in the 1500m at the Beijing Olympic Games (3 min 34.16 sec). 2006: Gold Medal in the 1500m at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games (3 min 38.49 sec). First New Zealander to win Gold in this event at the Commonwealth Games. 2005: Broke the New Zealand record for the 1500m, held for 32 years by John Walker. 2002: Fourth in 1500m at the World Junior Track and Field Championships. 2001: Record for fastest New Zealand student over a mile (4 min 1.33 sec).

http://www.willisrunning.com/

Middle distance running The most common middle distance running events are the 800m, the 1500m and the mile. Events longer than sprints and up to the 3000m are included in this category. Middle distance runners have to have good endurance. They need to maintain a good pace throughout the run as well as saving enough energy to sprint to the finish. Tactics also play a big part in middle distance running, as most competitors will have a plan for the race. Good middle distance runners can think on their feet and adapt their strategy as the race goes on.

800m The men’s 800m has been an event at every modern Olympic Games. It involves running two laps of a standard 400m track. Women first ran the 800m in the 1928 Olympic Games, but the event was not run again until 1960. World records (as of December 2011) Men: 1 min 41.01 sec Women: 1 min 53.28 sec 1500m The 1500m is the most prestigious middle distance event. It consists of three- and-three-quarter laps around a standard 400m track. In the early 1900s, the tracks in Europe were generally 500m, so the 1500m race came from three laps of the track. The men’s 1500m has been an event at every modern Olympic Games, but the women’s event has only been run since 1972. World records (as of December 2011) Men: 3 min 26.00 sec Women: 3 min 50.46 sec

Well-known New Zealand middle distance runners Jack Lovelock: 1936 Olympic Games 1500m Gold Peter Snell: 1960 Olympic Games 800m Gold, 1964 Olympic Games 800m and 1500m Gold John Walker: 1976 Olympic Games 1500m Gold

Peter Snell

Jack Lovelock