Peter Snell died in his sleep at the age of 80 at his home in Dallas, USA
He was voted New Zealand’s sportsperson of the century in 2000 and considered by many to be NZs greatest ever Olympian, world record holder over 800 and 1,500 metres. His career spanned only 5 or 6 years in the early 1960s but he won gold over both distances at the Tokyo Olympics in 1964, the first to achieve the feat since the 1920s - and other Olympic and Commonwealth Games medals.
i can remember listening to his world record run at Wanganui (on grass I think) over 1 mile in a tent - actually at Wanganui - with my soon to be wife. He would hang on near the back of the field until the back straight when he would steam past the opposition.
Members of his athletics club in Auckland - young and old - went for a fun run around the circuit favoured by Peter Snell in his heyday, starting off at coach Arthur Lydiard’s house.
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We watched Snell's double which I believe has not been done since either.
He was thickset for a middle distance runner but he could shift.
RIP