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Overview
This Athletics Finale run sheet lists the six runners who competed for the 800-metre race at the Rome Olympics in 1960, including the favourite to win, Belgian Roger Moens. The final was run at 4.45pm on 2 September 1960.
New Zealander Peter Snell, who was relatively unknown at the time, surprised the world when he won the race. He became an instant national celebrity and was named New Zealand Sportsman of the Year for 1960. He went on to win two more golds at the Tokyo Olympics in 1964 in an unrepeatable double of the men's 800m and 1500m.
When Sir Peter gifted his gold medal to Te Papa in 2017 (GH025067), he noted it was his 'most treasured' object because the Rome victory 'changed my life'. 'It represents my being brought out of obscurity into my career as a runner taking off.'
Sir Peter Snell
Sir Peter Snell (1938-2019) was one of the world’s greatest athletes in one of the world’s most admired sports – middle-distance running.
In 2000 he was named New Zealand’s Sports Champion of the 20th Century. During his running career he won three Olympic gold medals, two British Empire and Commonwealth Games gold medals (at Perth in 1962) and set six world records. In 2002 he was made a Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to sport, becoming Sir Peter in 2009.
Snell was a pupil of the master coach Arthur Lydiard who was responsible for the finest era in New Zealand athletics from 1951-66.