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Jim Ryun
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Kansas's 2nd district
In office November 27, 1996 – January 3, 2007
Preceded by	Sam Brownback
Succeeded by	Nancy Boyda
Personal details
Born	(1947-04-29) April 29, 1947 (age 65) Wichita, Kansas
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Anne Ryun
Residence	Jefferson County, Kansas
Alma mater	University of Kansas
Occupation	athlete, sports management executive
Religion	Evangelical Presbyterian

Olympic medal record
Competitor for  United States
Men's Athletics
Silver	1968 Mexico City	1500 metres

James Ronald ("Jim") Ryun (born April 29, 1947) is an American former track athlete and politician, who was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from 1996 to 2007, representing the 2nd District in Kansas. In the 2006 election, Ryun was defeated by Democratic challenger Nancy Boyda. In the Kansas Republican primary on August 5, 2008, he was defeated by Kansas State Treasurer Lynn Jenkins.^[1]

Years prior to his political career, Ryun had an athletic career that saw him become a world-class runner and the last American to hold the world record in the mile run. His career was highlighted by many world record times and a silver medal in the 1500 m at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics.

Athletics[link]

High school athletic achievements[link]

• In 1964 Ryun became the first high school runner to break four minutes for the mile, running 3:59.0 as a junior at Wichita High School East in Wichita, Kansas.
• Established the high school and U.S. open mile record 3:55.3 as a senior in 1965, a record that stood as the high school record for 36 years until broken by Alan Webb's 3:53.43 in 2001. It is also the last time an American male high school athlete broke an open American record in a major outdoor track and field event. In this record race he beat the reigning Olympic champion and former world record holder Peter Snell of New Zealand.
• His 3:58.3 to win the mile at the 1965 Kansas High School State Meet is still the record for the fastest time ever in a race that includes only high school competitors.
• Today he still holds five of the six fastest mile times in U.S. high school history (all sub-four minute), with Alan Webb’s record race holding the other spot.
• With five sub-four minute miles he is the only high school athlete in history with more than two such times. (Alan Webb has two, while Marty Liquori, Tim Danielson, and Lukas Verzbicas have one each.)
• He is the only athlete to run a four minute mile as a high school junior.
• After his junior year he qualified for the 1964 Summer Olympics in the 1500. He made it to the semifinal round, where he was eliminated.
• As a high school senior he was voted the fourth best miler in the world by the experts at Track & Field News.
• ESPN.com has him rated as the number 1 high school athlete of all time, beating out people such as Tiger Woods and LeBron James.^[2]

Post high school athletic career[link]

In 1966, at age nineteen, Ryun set world records in the mile and the half-mile runs, and received Sports Illustrated magazine's "Sportsman of the Year" award, as well as the James E. Sullivan Award as the nation's top amateur athlete, the ABC's Wide World of Sports Athlete of the Year, and was voted Track & Field News' Athlete of the Year as the world’s best track & field athlete. Ironically, Ryun did all of this before he was permitted to run for the school he attended, University of Kansas, since NCAA rules at the time did not allow freshmen to compete in NCAA competition. In 1967 Ryun ran a world record in the indoor half mile (1:48.3) and outdoors lowered his world-record time in the mile from 3:51.3 to 3:51.1, a record that stood for almost eight years. That same year he set the world record for the 1500 meters in 3:33.1, running his last lap in a blazing 53.3 seconds and his final 1,200 meters in an amazing 2:46.6.

In NCAA competition Ryun was the 1967 NCAA outdoor mile champion. He was also the NCAA indoor mile champion in 1967, 1968, and 1969, and in 1968 doubled back to win the 1968 NCAA indoor two-mile (3.2 km) championship race (handing Gerry Lindgren his only NCAA championship loss). Ryun's 1969 win in the mile helped the Kansas Jayhawks win the NCAA indoor track championship that year. With his University of Kansas teammates he also anchored a world record in the sprint medley relay (3:15.2) and twice in the distance medley relay (9:33.8 at the Drake Relays in 1967 and then 9:33.0 at the Kansas Relays in 1969, Ryan's 3:57.6 anchor leg for the mile being his last collegiate race on his home track).

Today, over 40 years after he set them, Ryun still holds the American junior (19 and under) records at 880 yd (1:44.9), 800 m (1:44.3), 1,500 m (3:36.1), and two miles (8:25.1). In all, he broke the American record for the mile four times: once as a high school senior (3:55.3 on 27 June 1965), twice as a college freshman (3:53.7 on 4 June 1966 & 3:51.3 on 17 July 1966), and once as a college sophomore (3:51.1 on 23 June 1967).

Ryun participated in the 1964, 1968, and 1972 Summer Olympics, but the gold medal eluded him. Having completely recovered from mononucleosis in the spring of 1968, he won a silver medal in the 1500 meters that autumn in the high altitude of Mexico City, losing to Kip Keino from Kenya, whose remarkable race remained the Olympic 1,500-meter record for 16 years. (Before the race Ryun had thought that a time of 3:39 would be good enough to win in the high altitude of Mexico City. He ended up running faster than that with a 3:37.8, but Keino's 3:34.9 was too tough to beat at that altitude. Years later, in 1981, he told Tex Maule in an interview for The Runner magazine, "We had thought that 3:39 would win and I ran under that. I considered it like winning a gold medal; I had done my very best and I still believe I would have won at sea level." Ryun was attacked by some writers who believed he had let his nation down. "Some even said I had let down the whole world. I didn't get any credit for running my best and no one seemed to realize that Keino had performed brilliantly.") In the 1972 Munich, Germany games, he was tripped and fell down during a 1500-meter qualifying heat. Although the International Olympic Committee (IOC) acknowledged that a foul had occurred and tapes from a German television station clearly demonstrated that Ryun was tripped, U.S. appeals to have Ryun reinstated in the competition were denied by the IOC.

Ryun’s 1500-meter world record, run in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum during the US vs. British Commonwealth meet in July 1967, was one of Ryun’s greatest running performances. Track and Field News reported that “after 220 yards of dawdling, a record seemed out of the question.” However, after 440 yards, which Ryun, in third, passed in 60.9 seconds, Kip Keino took the lead and ran the next lap in 56 seconds (the fastest second lap ever run at the time). Ryun, just behind, passed the 880-yard mark in 1:57.0. At 1320 yards the two were side by side in 2:55.0. Ryun pulled away to finish in 3:33.1, a record that stood for seven years. With a last 440 yards of 53.9 and a last 880 yards of 1:51.3, Cordner Nelson of Track and Field News called it “the mightiest finishing drive ever seen,” and said of Ryun’s performance, “This was most certainly his greatest race.”

Ryun's final season as an amateur in 1972 included the third-best mile of his career (at the time, also the third fastest in history: a 3:52.8 at Toronto, Canada on July 29), a 5,000-meter career best (13:38.2 at Bakersfield, CA on May 20), and an inspiring win in the 1,500 meters at the U.S. Olympic Trials. He left amateur athletics after 1972 and for the next two years ran professionally on the International Track Association circuit. After this, he retired from track competition altogether. In 1980 he began running various road races for charity purposes, eventually achieving a 10 km best of 31:36.

World records[link]

Notes:

• Since 880 yards is longer than 800 meters the 1:44.9 was also converted into an en-route time at 800 m of 1:44.3, which equaled the existing world record, and remained the world and American record until broken by Rick Wohlhuter's 1.44.6 in 1973.
• The 3:33.1 1,500 m mark remained the world record for six years until broken by Tanzania’s Filbert Bayi's 3:32.2 in 1974.
• The 3:51.1 mile mark remained the world record for eight years until broken by Bayi's 3:51.0 in 1975.

Athletic awards[link]

Track & Field News Athlete of the Year award for both 1966 & 1967, the first athlete to win this prestigious award two years in a row.

The 1966 Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year award.

The 1966 James E. Sullivan Award, presented to the best amateur athlete in the U.S.

The 1966 ABC Wide World of Sports Athlete of the Year award

Jim Ryun’s Track & Field News World Rankings:

800/880

• 1966 — 1

1500/Mile

• 1965 — 4
• 1966 — 1
• 1967 — 1
• 1968 — 2
• 1969 — 7
• 1971 — 6
• 1972 — 9

In 1980 Ryun was inducted into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame and in 2003 he was inducted into the National Distance Running Hall of Fame.

Personal[link]

Ryun was born in Wichita, Kansas. He now lives in Lawrence, though he was listed in the House roll as "R-Topeka." He also owns a farm in Jefferson County.

Ryun and his wife, Anne, whom he married in 1969, have four children and seven grandchildren. He and his sons, Ned Ryun and Drew, have co-authored three books: Heroes Among Us, The Courage to Run, and In Quest of Gold- The Jim Ryun Story.

After graduating from the University of Kansas in 1970 with a degree in photojournalism, Ryun moved to Eugene, Oregon; looking for a good training situation to continue his track career. Six months later, he moved to Santa Barbara, California, where he and his family remained for nine years. He and his family moved back to Lawrence in 1981.

Raised in the Church of Christ, Ryun and his wife are members of Grace Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Lawrence.

Career prior to election to Congress[link]

Before being elected to the House of Representatives in 1996, Ryun had operated Jim Ryun Sports, a company that ran sports camps, and worked as a motivational speaker at meetings of corporations and Christian groups around the country.^[3] Among his projects, Ryun, who has a 50% hearing loss, helped the ReSound Hearing Aid Company develop a program called Sounds of Success, aimed at helping children with hearing loss. Since 1973, Ryun and his family have hosted running camps every summer for high school aged runners and continue to do so.

House of Representatives[link]

Elections[link]

Ryun was first elected in 1996 to fill a seat vacated by Republican Sam Brownback. He won the three-person Republican primary with 62 percent of the vote, defeating former Topeka mayor Doug Wright and Cheryl Brown Henderson,^[4] the daughter of the plaintiff in the historic Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka desegregation case.^[3] In the general campaign, Ryun was in tight race with Democrat John Frieden, a prominent Topeka trial attorney, who outspent Ryun $750,000 to $400,000.^[3] Ryun won that contest with 52 percent of the vote.

He was re-elected in 1998, 2000 and 2002, receiving more than 60 percent of the vote each cycle.

In 2004, Democrat Nancy Boyda, a former moderate Republican, ran a campaign with spending near that of Ryun's, $1,105,838 (compared to Ryun's $1,136,464).^[5] Ryun defeated her by a margin of 55% to 42%.

In the 2006 election, Boyda was again the Democratic nominee, with Roger Tucker of the Reform Party USA also on the ballot.^[6] Initially expected to win, Ryun found his campaign faltering as internal polling by both Boyda and Republicans revealed a Democratic lead. In response, Ryun's campaign recruited both President Bush and Vice President Cheney to visit Topeka to campaign and raise campaign funds for Ryun. Ryun was defeated in an upset by Boyda, 51% to 47%.^[7]

In March 2007 Ryun confirmed that he would run for his old seat.^[8] In the Republican primary, he faced Kansas State Treasurer Lynn Jenkins, a moderate who has served two terms as State Treasurer, a partial term in the Kansas Senate and two years in the Kansas House. Ryun lost to Jenkins, who went on to win the seat in the general election, 51% to 49%.^[9]

Political actions[link]

Ryun served on the Armed Services, Budget and Financial Services committees.

Ryun generally supported George W. Bush's legislative agenda, voting to support it 89% of the time, average for a House member who was from the same party as the sitting President.^[10] In 2003, he voted against the $373 billion end-of-session spending bill because he considered it to be too costly and had come to Congress to support fiscal restraint.

Ryun broke with the President over two major initiatives, No Child Left Behind and Medicare reform legislation that included a prescription drug benefit. In voting against No Child Left Behind, Ryun said he believed states should have more control over their own education system. In opposing the Medicare bill, Ryun said the bill didn't provide enough reform to keep future costs from soaring.

In 2006, the National Journal rated Ryun as the nation's most conservative member of Congress.^[11] He was a member of the Republican Study Committee, a caucus of 103 fiscally and socially conservative House Republicans.

Environmental record[link]

In 2005, Ryun scored 0 percent on the Republicans for Environmental Protection ("REP") scorecard. There were 12 issues that were considered by the REP to be critical environmental issues.^[12] Jim Ryun voted with what the REP would consider pro-environment on none of the issues voted upon. These issues consisted of the drilling of oil and natural gas,Congressman Richard Pombo's bill designed to weaken the Endangered Species Act of 1973, an amendment to the Energy Policy Act of 2005, by Congresswoman Lois Capps to remove section 1502, a provision that would provide liability protection for manufacturers of the gasoline additive MTBE, and the movement to increase fuel economy standards.^[12]

Ryun also scored a 0 on League of Conservation Voters's ("LCV") scorecard. Many of REP's critical issues were present on the scorecard.^[13]

In 2006, Ryun improved his REP scorecard when he voted pro-environment on 2 of 7 critical issues. This earned him a 17 percent.^[14] He voted to help reduce the impact the Army Corps of Engineers had on the environment. The issues in which he voted against the REP were ones involving oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, renewable resource programs, and the movement to end debate and accept the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act.

Controversies[link]

Legal defense trust contribution[link]

Along with 89 other House members, Ryun gave a one time contribution of $1,000 to former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's legal defense trust.^[15]

Townhouse purchase in 2000[link]

On December 15, 2000, Ryun bought a townhouse in the District of Columbia from U.S. Family Network for $410,000,^[16][17][18] The townhouse had been purchased about two years earlier, for $429,000,^[19] to house Buckham's consulting firm Alexander Strategy Group and DeLay's ARMPAC.

After questions were raised as to the purchase of Ryun's townhome, his office released official documents showing that Ryun paid $80,000 more than the tax assessed value of the house, that he put another $50,000 into house repairs and that another home on the same block was sold for $409,000 on the same day he bought his home. According to property records, the other home does not have a garage or a back patio and is on a land area about half the size of Ryun's. It was assessed in 2006 as worth $528,000, compared to $764,000 for Ryun's home. In contrast, homes across the street from Ryun's were sold for over $900,000.^[20]

Connection to Mark Foley[link]

After Rep. Mark Foley resigned in October 2006, following revelations he had sent sexually explicit e-mails to teenage congressional pages, Ryun contended that he barely knew Foley, had never spent time with him, and was unaware that they lived directly across the street from each other in Washington, D.C. "I know that [we were neighbors] only because somebody has mentioned that, too, already," he told reporters at the time. However, it was later revealed that Ryun and Foley had hosted a joint fundraiser on their street on May 18, 2006, called the "D Street Block Party." An invitation to the fundraiser included side-by-side pictures of Ryun and Foley. Ryun's campaign manager later admitted that Ryun had always known he was Foley's neighbor.^[21]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
• Associated Press profile
• SourceWatch Congresspedia — Jim Ryun profile
• National Track & Field Hall of Fame entry
• Kansas Sports Hall of Fame entry
• Youtube video of 1968 Olympic 1500 final
• Youtube video of 1967 World Record
• Youtube video of high school record

United States House of Representatives
Preceded by Sam Brownback	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Kansas's 2nd congressional district 1996–2007-01-03	Succeeded by Nancy Boyda
Records
Preceded by Herb Elliott	Men's 1,500m World Record Holder July 8, 1967 – February 2, 1974	Succeeded by Filbert Bayi
Preceded by Michel Jazy	Men's Mile World Record Holder July 17, 1966 – May 17, 1975	Succeeded by Filbert Bayi
Awards and achievements
Preceded by Ron Clarke	Track & Field Athlete of the Year 1966–1967	Succeeded by Bob Beamon
Preceded by Dick Anderson, Bob Johnson, Donna Lopiano, Don Schollander, Stan Smith and Wyomia Tyus	Silver Anniversary Awards (NCAA) Class of 1994 alongside: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Lee Evans, Calvin Hill, William C. Hurd and Leroy Keyes	Succeeded by Lesley Bush, Larry Echohawk, Kwaku Ohene-Frempong, Bob Lanier, Mike Phipps and Mike Reid

Medal record
Men's Athletics
Competitor for  Kenya
Olympic Games
Gold	1968 Mexico City	1500 metres
Gold	1972 Munich	3000 metres steeple
Silver	1968 Mexico City	5000 metres
Silver	1972 Munich	1500 metres
Commonwealth Games
Gold	1966 Kingston	Mile
Gold	1966 Kingston	3 miles
Gold	1970 Edinburgh	1500 metres
Bronze	1970 Edinburgh	5000 metres
All-Africa Games
Gold	1965 Brazzaville	1500 metres
Gold	1965 Brazzaville	5000 metres
Silver	1973 Lagos	1500 metres

Kipchoge ("Kip") Keino (born 17 January 1940), chairman of the Kenyan Olympic Committee (KOC), is a retired Kenyan track and field athlete and two-time Olympic gold medalist. Kip Keino was among the first in a long line of successful middle and long distance runners to come from the country and has helped and inspired many of his fellow countrymen and women to become the athletics force that they are today.

Biography[link]

Keino was born in Kipsamo, Nandi District, Kenya. Both of his parents died while he was young. He was then brought up by his aunt. After finishing school, he joined Kenya Police.^[1] Before taking athletics, he played rugby^[2]

He began his international career at the 1962 Commonwealth Games in Perth, Australia where he came eleventh in the three miles. At the 1964 Summer Olympics he finished fifth in 5000 m and barely missed the 1500 m final.

On 27 August 1965, Keino lowered the 3000 m world record by over 6 seconds to 7:39.6 at his first attempt at the distance. He won two gold medals (1500 & 5000 metres) at the inaugural All-Africa Games. Later in that year he broke the 5000 m world record held by Ron Clarke clocking 13:24.2. At the 1966 Commonwealth Games in Kingston, Jamaica he won both the mile run and three mile run. In the next Commonwealth Games, Keino won the 1500 metres and was third in the 5000 metres.

At the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, he won the 1500 metres gold medal (defeating American favourite and world record holder Jim Ryun by 20m, the largest winning margin in the history of the event ^[3]) and 5000 m silver medal. Four years later, he won the 3000 metres steeplechase gold and 1500 metres silver at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany. He retired in 1973.^[1]

In 1987, he shared Sports Illustrated magazine's "Sportsmen and Sportswomen of the Year" award with seven others, characterized as "Athletes Who Care," for his work with orphans.

Currently, Keino lives on a farm in Western Kenya where he controls and runs a charitable organization for orphans, and is president of the Kenyan Olympic Committee. He is married to Phyllis Keino. One son Martin was a two-time NCAA champion and highly successful pace-setter. Another son, Andrew, aka "Kippy", is currently competing while attending Villanova [1].

He has built Kip Keino Primary School located near Eldoret, while Kip Keino Secondary School is under construction and due to open in 2008. Kipchoge Keino Stadium in Eldoret is named after him.^[1]

In 1996, he was inducted into the World Sports Humanitarian Hall of Fame.

In 2007, he was made an honorary Doctor of Law by the University of Bristol.^[4] Earlier, Egerton University in Nakuru had awarded him an honorary degree.^[1] His name, Kipchoge, is a Nandi language expression for "born near the grain storage shed".^[5]

References[link]

• KEINO, Kipchoge A. (Kip) International Who's Who. accessed 8 September 2006.

External links[link]

• Kip Keino High Altitude Training Center
• Beijing 2008 dazzles, as we 'flashback' to the 1968 Mexico City Olympics and a triumphant Kipchoge Keino, Posted On: 2008-08-08.
• Youtube video of 1968 Olympic 1500 final

Records
Preceded by Siegfried Herrmann	Men's 3000 m World Record Holder 27 August 1965 – 14 September 1972	Succeeded by Emiel Puttemans
Sporting positions
Preceded by Bob Schul	Men's 5000 m Best Year Performance 1965	Succeeded by Ron Clarke

Medal record
Competitor for  United States
Men's triathlon
ITU Triathlon World Championships
Gold	2011 Bejing	Junior

Lukas Verzbicas (born January 6, 1993 in Kaunas, Lithuania) is a Lithuanian American long-distance runner and triathlete.^[1] He won the Foot Locker Cross Country Championships in 2009 (15:07) and in 2010 (14:59),^[2] and the Nike Cross Nationals invitational in 2010 (15:59),^[3] becoming the first runner to win both FLCC and NXN in the same year, and only the third to win FLCC back to back. He became the 2010 IHSA Class 3A state champion, 3 miles (13:53.7), which was the third fastest of all time, 3 seconds off the state record held by world cross country champion and three time Olympian Craig Virgin.^[4] Verzbicas is also a successful triathlete, with wins in, among others, 2011 ITU World Junior Championships, the Pan American Triathlon Confederation Junior Championships (May 2009, July 2011) and the Duathlon World Junior Championships (September 2009).^[5]

He was the high school indoor national record holder in the 5000 meters (14:06) until Edward Cheserek broke his time on February 11, 2012 at the 105th Millrose Games with a 13:57.04. He holds the Sophomore national record in the 1 mile (4:04), and the Freshman national records in the indoor 1 mile (4:15), indoor 2 mile (8:57), indoor 5000m (14:18) and outdoor 2 mile (8:53).^[4]

At the 2011 New Balance Indoor National meet, Verzbicas won the 5000 meters (14:06), the 2 mile (8:40), and the one mile (4:10), becoming the first high school runner in history to win all three at the national meet.

At the 2011 Prefontaine Classic in Eugene Oregon, Verzbicas set a national high school record in the 2 mile with a time of 8:29, smashing the old record of 8:34 set by German Fernandez in 2008.

At the 2011 Adidas High School Boys' Dream Mile, Verzbicas became only the second American high school male^{[citation needed]} to run below 4:00 for a full mile in a high school-only race, running 3:59.71. Jim Ryun, Tim Danielson, Marty Liquori and Alan Webb have also run under four minutes in high school. Webb is the American high school record holder for the mile, clocking 3:53.43 at the Prefontaine Classic in 2001.

Verzbicas moved to the US from Lithuania with his mother and stepfather at age 9, and lives in Orland Park, Illinois.^[5] His mother is a former Lithuanian record-holder at 3,000m.^[5]

He resides in Orland Park, Illinois and graduated from Carl Sandburg High School in May 2011,^[1] completing high School in just 3 years.^[6]

Verzbicas signed a national letter of intent to run for the University of Oregon.^[7]

In November 2011 during Cross Country season, Verzbicas announced that he would be leaving Oregon to pursue a career in the triathlon with the hopes of making a future US Olympic team. The timing of this decision was controversial as he left the cross country team just before a critical national qualifying race.^[8]

References[link]

Sir Peter Snell

Personal information
Birth name	Peter George Snell
Nationality	New Zealand
Born	(1938-12-17) 17 December 1938 (age 73) Opunake, Taranaki
Residence	Texas, United States
Sport
Coached by	Arthur Lydiard
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)	800 m: 1:44.3 (1962, NR)
Medal record Competitor for  New Zealand Men’s athletics Olympic Games Gold 1960 Rome 800 metres Gold 1964 Tokyo 800 metres Gold 1964 Tokyo 1500 metres Commonwealth Games Gold 1962 Perth 880 yards Gold 1962 Perth 1 mile

Sir Peter George Snell, KNZM, MBE (born 17 December 1938 in Opunake) is a former New Zealand athlete, now resident in Texas, United States. He had one of the shortest careers of world famous international sportsmen, yet achieved so much that he was voted New Zealand’s "Sports Champion of the (20th) Century". A protege of the great New Zealand athletics coach Arthur Lydiard, Snell is known for the three Olympic and two Commonwealth gold medals he won.

Early athletic career[link]

Snell's family moved to Waikato in 1949 where he attended Te Aroha College, where he became an all-around sportsman. He won several middle-distance running events in his hometown of Te Aroha, although some members of his new school lived in Ngaruawahia. He attended Mount Albert Grammar School in Auckland, where he took up a wide range of team and individual sports, including rugby union, cricket, tennis, badminton, and golf.

As a teenager, Snell excelled in tennis, and pursued the sport through appearances at the Auckland and New Zealand Junior Tennis Championships.

At age 19, Snell was motivated to concentrate seriously on running by the comments of his future coach, Arthur Lydiard, who told him, "Peter, with the sort of speed you've got, if you do the endurance training, you could be one of our best middle-distance runners."^[1] During his early career under the tutelage of Lydiard, he started with New Zealand titles and records for 880 yards and the mile and, being an unusually large (by track standards) and powerful man, hinted of great things to come.

Olympic success[link]

He came to international attention when he won the gold medal and set a new national record for 800 m at the Rome Olympics in 1960. He was particularly dominant four years later at the Tokyo Olympics where he won the gold and set a new Olympic record in the 800 metres, and won gold in the 1500 metres. The 800–1500 metres double was not achieved again by a male athlete in open global championship until Rashid Ramzi of Bahrain won both golds at the 2005 World Championships in Athletics at Helsinki. (After the 2008 Olympic Games Ramzi was stripped of his Olympic gold medal for doping, but that penalty was not applied retroactively to his World Championship gold medals).

World records[link]

In January 1962 Snell broke the world mile record before a huge crowd at Cook’s Gardens in Wanganui, and one week later set new world records for both the 800 m and 880 yd at Christchurch. He then won gold and set a new record for 880 yd at the Commonwealth Games in Perth in 1962, and won gold for the mile at those same games. Later that year he was created a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE).

In all, Snell set five individual world records and joined with fellow New Zealand athletes to set a new four by one mile relay record as well. He was at the peak of his career in 1965 and promising much more, when he stunned New Zealand and the athletics world by announcing his retirement to move on to other things.

Snell's former world records of 1 minute 44.3 seconds for 800 m, set on 3 February 1962, and 2 minutes 16.6 seconds for 1000 m set on 12 November 1964, remain the New Zealand national records for these distances. His 800 m record remains the fastest ever run over that distance on a grass track, and is also the oldest national record recognized by the IAAF for a standard track and field event. The 800 m record also remains the official "Oceana" continental area record.^[2]

New opportunities[link]

Snell worked for a tobacco company before moving to the United States of America in 1971 to further his education. He gained a B.S. in Human Performance from the University of California, Davis, and then a Ph.D. in Exercise Physiology from Washington State University. He joined University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas as a research fellow in 1981. He is Associate Professor, Department of Internal Medicine and also Director of their Human Performance Center. A member of the American College of Sports Medicine, Snell was honoured in 1999 as an Inaugural Inductee, International Scholar, into the Athlete Hall of Fame, University of Rhode Island.

Adopting a new sport, Snell become an active orienteer and won his category, men aged 65 and older, in the 2003 United States Orienteering Championship.^[3] He is a past president of the North Texas Orienteering Association and a member of the United States Orienteering Federation.

Commemorations and awards[link]

Peter Snell was one of five Olympic athletes from New Zealand featured on a series of commemorative postage stamps issued in August 2004 to commemorate the 2004 Olympic Games. The two dollar stamp issued by New Zealand Post features a stylized photo of Peter Snell snapping the tape at the finish line of the 800 metres race at the 1960 Olympics in Rome.^[4]

In 2007 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate (DSc) from Massey University in recognition of his work as an Exercise Physiologist. On 14 August 2009, he took part in a ceremony in Wellington that changed the honours received during the previous government to a traditional knighthood.

A larger than life-size bronze statue of Peter Snell was erected in his hometown of Opunake, Taranaki, and was unveiled on 19 May 2007. The statue is based on a photo of Snell crossing the finish line in the historic race at Wanganui's Cook's Gardens in 1962.^[5] A similar bronze statue of Snell was unveiled in Cook's Gardens on 15 August 2009 to commemorate his athletic achievements.^[6]

Interviewed by the Wanganui Chronicle after the unveiling, Snell said he was internationally known as a miler, but he had never reached his potential over the mile and the 800 metres was probably his best distance.^[7] He said his greatest effort was the world 800m/880yard double record set on Lancaster Park a few days after his new mile record, with an 800m time that would have won the gold medal 46 years later at the Beijing Olympics.

In 2001, Macleans College in Auckland created the Peter Snell House as part of its "Whanau House" system.^[8]

Personal bests[link]

• *En route to mile

External links[link]

• Page with Photo, one of two at Sporting Heroes
• Peter Snell - Athlete - A documentary made in 1964 available to view on NZ On Screen
• Peter Snell at NZOC website

Records
Preceded by Roger Moens	Men's 800 metres World Record Holder equalled by Ralph Doubell and Dave Wottle 1962-02-02 – 1973-06-27	Succeeded by Marcello Fiasconaro
Preceded by Herb Elliott	Men's Mile World Record Holder January 27, 1962 – June 9, 1965	Succeeded by Michel Jazy
Awards and achievements
Preceded by Ralph Boston	Track & Field Athlete of the Year 1962	Succeeded by Yang Chuan-Kwang
Preceded by Yang Chuan-Kwang	Track & Field Athlete of the Year 1964	Succeeded by Ron Clarke

References[link]

Cited References

General References