Peter Snell
Snell at the 1964 Olympics
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| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Peter George Snell |
| Nationality | New Zealander |
| Born |
17 December 1938 Opunake, Taranaki |
| Residence | Texas, United States |
| Height | 1.79 m (5 ft 10 in) |
| Weight | 80 kg (180 lb) |
| Sport | |
| Sport | Athletics |
| Event(s) | 800 m, 1500 m |
| Coached by | Arthur Lydiard |
| Achievements and titles | |
| Personal best(s) |
800 metres: 1:44.3 (WR) 880 yards: 1:45.1 WR 1000 metres: 2:16.6 WR 1500 metres: 3:37.6 Mile: 3:54.4 WR Mile 3:54.1 WR 4 x 1 mile relay: 16.23.8 WR (with Murray Halberg, Gary Philpott & Barry Magee) |
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Medal record
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Sir Peter George Snell KNZM OBE (born 17 December 1938) is a New Zealand former middle-distance runner. He won three Olympic gold medals, and is the only male since 1920 to win the 800 and 1500 metres at the same Olympics, in 1964.
Snell 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" and was one of 24 inaugural members of the International Association of Athletics Federations Hall Of Fame named in 2012. A protégé of the New Zealand athletics coach Arthur Lydiard, Snell is known for the three Olympic and two Commonwealth Games gold medals he won, and the several world records he set.
Born in Opunake, Snell moved with his family to Waikato in 1949 where he attended Te Aroha College and 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." 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.
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