Herb Elliott
Herb Elliott at the 1960 Olympics
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| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Birth name | Herbert James Elliott | ||||||||||||||||||
| Nickname(s) | Herb | ||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality | Australian | ||||||||||||||||||
| Born |
25 February 1938 Subiaco, Western Australia |
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| Height | 5 ft 11 in (180 cm) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 150 lb (68 kg) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||||||
| Country | Australia | ||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Middle-distance running | ||||||||||||||||||
| Coached by | Percy Cerutty | ||||||||||||||||||
| Achievements and titles | |||||||||||||||||||
| Olympic finals | Rome 1960 | ||||||||||||||||||
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Medal record
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Herbert James "Herb" Elliott AC MBE (born 25 February 1938) is a former Australian athlete and one of the world's greatest middle distance runners of his era. In August 1958 he set the world record in the mile run, clocking 3:54.5, 2.7 seconds under the record held by Derek Ibbotson; later in the month he set the 1500 metres world record, running 3.36.0, 2.1 seconds under the record held by Stanislav Jungwirth. In the 1500 metres at the 1960 Rome Olympics, he won the gold medal and bettered his own world record with a time of 3:35.6.
Few people have ever exercised such absolute authority in any branch of sport as Elliott did in middle distance running from 1957 to 1961. During that span he never lost a 1500 metres or 1-mile race. During his career, he broke four minutes for the mile on 17 occasions.
Elliott is chairman of one of largest iron ore mining companies in the world and he is also chairman of Global Corporate Challenge health initiative.
Elliott was born on 25 February 1938 in Perth, Western Australia. He attended CBC Perth (now Trinity College, Perth) and later moved to Aquinas College. The intense sporting culture at Aquinas College provided an ideal grounding for Elliott to reach the highest levels of athletic achievement. Elliott also attended the University of Cambridge.
On 6 August 1958, Elliott set a new world record for the mile (3:54.5) at Morton Stadium in Dublin. Later that month he broke the 1500 metres world record in Gothenburg with a time of 3:36.0.
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