Sir Peter George Snell (17 December 1938 – 12 December 2019) was a New Zealand

middle-distance runner Middle-distance running events are track races longer than sprints, up to 3000 metres. The standard middle distances are the 800 metres, 1500 metres and mile run, although the 3000 metres may also be classified as a middle-distance event. The 1 ...

. He won three Olympic gold medals, and is the only man since 1920 to have won the 800 and 1500 metres at the same Olympics, in 1964. Snell had a relatively short career as a world-famous international sportsman, 1960–1965, 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 World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body fo ...

Hall of Fame named in 2012. A protégé of the New Zealand athletics coach

Arthur Lydiard Arthur Leslie Lydiard (6 July 1917 – 11 December 2004) was a New Zealand runner and athletics coach. He has been lauded as one of the outstanding athletics coaches of all time and is credited with popularising the sport of running and making ...

, Snell is known for the three

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

and two

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...

gold medals he won, and the several world records he set.

Early athletic career

Born in

Ōpunake Ōpunake is a small town on the southwest coast of Taranaki in New Zealand's North Island. It is located 45 kilometres southwest of New Plymouth. Rahotu is 16 km to the northwest. Manaia is 29 km to the southeast. State Highw ...

, Snell moved with his family to

Waikato Waikato () is a local government region of the upper North Island of New Zealand. It covers the Waikato District, Waipa District, Matamata-Piako District, South Waikato District and Hamilton City, as well as Hauraki, Coromandel Peninsul ...

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 Te Aroha ( mi, Te Aroha-a-uta) is a rural town in the Waikato region of New Zealand with a population of 3,906 people in the 2013 census, an increase of 138 people since 2006. It is northeast of Hamilton and south of Thames. It sits at the f ...

, although some members of his new school lived in

Ngāruawāhia Ngāruawāhia () is a town in the Waikato region of the North Island of New Zealand. It is located north-west of Hamilton at the confluence of the Waikato and Waipā Rivers, adjacent to the Hakarimata Range. Ngāruawāhia is in the Hamilton U ...

. He attended Mount Albert Grammar School in Auckland, where he took up a wide range of team and individual sports, including

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per side) and "doubles" (with two players p ...

, and

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping ...

. 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."Winder, Virginia (2003
"Peter Snell's One-Track Mind"
pukeariki.com Retrieved 10 January 2006. During his early career under the tutelage of Lydiard, he started with New Zealand titles and records for 880 yards and the mile, despite being an unusually large and powerful man by typical middle-distance runner standards.

Olympic success

Snell came to international attention with his gold medal in the

800 metres The 800 metres, or meters ( US spelling), is a common track running event. It is the shortest commonly run middle-distance running event. The 800 metres is run over two laps of an outdoor (400-metre) track and has been an Olympic event since t ...

at the

Rome Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics ( it, Giochi Olimpici estivi del 1960), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad ( it, Giochi della XVII Olimpiade) and commonly known as Rome 1960 ( it, Roma 1960), were an international multi-sport event held ...

in 1960, setting a new national record. He was particularly dominant four years later at the Tokyo Olympics where he won the gold and set a new Olympic record in the and won gold in the

1500 metres The 1500 metres or 1,500-metre run (typically pronounced 'fifteen-hundred metres') is the foremost middle distance track event in athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Championships in Athle ...

. By winning the 800–1500 m double, Snell became the only male to achieve this feat at the Olympics since 1920, and it has not been achieved by any male athlete at the Olympics since. It was not achieved by a male at an open global championship until Moroccan-born

Rashid Ramzi Rashid Ramzi ( ar, رشيد رمزي) (born July 17, 1980) is a Moroccan-Bahraini track and field athlete competing internationally for Bahrain in the 800 metres and 1500 metres. Ramzi was investigated by the IAAF after the 2008 Summer Olympics ...

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...

won both golds at the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

in 2005 at

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city ...

. (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

In early 1962, Snell lowered the world mile record by a tenth of a second at Cooks Gardens in

Whanganui Whanganui (; ), also spelled Wanganui, is a city in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand. The city is located on the west coast of the North Island at the mouth of the Whanganui River, New Zealand's longest navigable waterway. Whang ...

on and one week later set new world records for both the 800 m and at He then won gold and set a new record for 880 yd at the

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...

in 1962, and won gold for the mile at those same games. In all, Snell set five individual world records and joined fellow New Zealand athletes to set a new four by one mile relay record as well. Snell's former world records of 1:44.3 for 800 m (3 February 1962) and 2:16.6 for 1000 m (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. His 800 m record was also the Oceania continental area record for 56 years, until 20 July 2018. Fatigued after his Olympic buildup and second world mile record in 1964, his final track season in 1965 was characterized by a string of losses to such athletes as Olympic 1500 m silver medalist Josef Odlozil, Olympic 800 m silver medalist

Bill Crothers William Frederick "Bill" Crothers (born December 24, 1940) is a Canadian retired athlete. Born in Markham, Crothers grew up in the Toronto suburbs of East York and Agincourt, attending high school at Agincourt Collegiate Institut ...

, U.S. high schooler and future world record holder

Jim Ryun James Ronald Ryun (born April 29, 1947) is an American former Republican politician and Olympic track and field athlete, who at his peak was widely considered the world's top middle-distance runner. He won a silver medal in the 1500 m at the ...

, and the American Jim Grelle. Snell then announced his retirement.

Career after retirement from sport

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 The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a public land-grant research university near Davis, California. Named a Public Ivy, it is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The inst ...

, and then a PhD in exercise physiology from

Washington State University Washington State University (Washington State, WSU, or informally Wazzu) is a public land-grant research university with its flagship, and oldest, campus in Pullman, Washington. Founded in 1890, WSU is also one of the oldest land-grant uni ...

. He joined

University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (UT Southwestern or UTSW) is a public academic health science center in Dallas, Texas. With approximately 18,800 employees, more than 2,900 full-time faculty, and nearly 4 million outpatient vi ...

as a research fellow in 1981. He was associate professor, Department of Internal Medicine and also director of their Human Performance Center. A member of the

American College of Sports Medicine The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, is a sports medicine and exercise science membership organization. Founded in 1954, ACSM holds conferences, publishes books and journals, and offers certifi ...

, Snell was honoured in 1999 as an Inaugural Inductee, International Scholar, into the Athlete Hall of Fame,

University of Rhode Island The University of Rhode Island (URI) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Kingston, Rhode Island, United States. It is the flagship public research as well as the land-grant university of the state of Rhode Isla ...

. Adopting a new sport, Snell became an active

orienteer Orienteering is a group of sports that require navigational skills using a map and compass to navigate from point to point in diverse and usually unfamiliar terrain whilst moving at speed. Participants are given a topographical map, usually a ...

and won his category, men aged 65 and older, in the 2003 United States Orienteering Championship.Bay Area Orienteering Club (2003).
2003 Silva U.S. Orienteering Championships, Fallen Leaf Lake, South Lake Tahoe
baoc.org Retrieved 23 January 2006. He was a past president of the North Texas Orienteering Association and a member of the

United States Orienteering Federation Orienteering USA (OUSA), formerly United States Orienteering Federation (USOF), is the national governing body for orienteering in the United States. It is recognized by the International Orienteering Federation and the United States Olympic Com ...

. Snell also became a competitive

table tennis Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small solid rackets. It takes place on a hard table div ...

player including competing in Texas state (finishing in the top 4 in the 75+ age category) and U.S. championship events and also the 2017

World Masters Games The World Masters Games is an international multi-sport event held every four years which, in terms of competitor numbers, has developed into the largest of its kind. Governed by the International Masters Games Association (IMGA), the World Mas ...

in Auckland, New Zealand. Snell died at his home in

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

on 12 December 2019, just five days short of turning 81. The cause was heart failure. Miki, his wife, survived him.

Commemorations and awards

Following his success at the Perth Commonwealth Games in 1962, Snell was appointed a

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

for services in the field of athletics in the 1962 Queen's Birthday Honours. Three years later he was elevated to Officer of the same order in the

1965 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1965 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. They were announced in supplements to the ''Lond ...

. He was voted New Zealand's Sports Champion of the Century in 2000 and was knighted soon afterwards. In the

2002 New Year Honours New Years' Honours are announced on or around the date of the New Year in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. The dates vary, both from year to year and from country to country. All are published in supplements to the London Ga ...

, he was appointed a

Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have rend ...

for services to sport, and in 2009, following the restoration of titular honours by the New Zealand government, he accepted redesignation as a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit and was invested by the Governor-General of New Zealand,

Sir Anand Satyanand Sir Anand Satyanand, (born 22 July 1944) is a former lawyer, judge and ombudsman who served as the 19th Governor-General of New Zealand from 2006 to 2011. Satyanand was chair of the Commonwealth Foundation for two 2-year terms, ending in D ...

. Snell was one of five Olympic athletes from New Zealand featured on a series of commemorative

postage stamps A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail), who then affix the stamp to the f ...

issued in August 2004 to commemorate the 2004 Olympic Games. The two dollar stamp issued by

New Zealand Post NZ Post ( mi, Tukurau Aotearoa), shortened from New Zealand Post, is a state-owned enterprise responsible for providing postal service in New Zealand. The New Zealand Post Office, a government agency, provided postal, banking, and telecommuni ...

features a stylized photo of Snell snapping the tape at the finish line of the 800 metres race at the 1960 Olympics in Rome. He was selected by ''

Track and Field News ''Track & Field News'' is an American monthly sports magazine founded in 1948 by brothers Bert Nelson and Cordner Nelson, focused on the world of track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on runni ...

as their "Athlete of the '60's" and was pictured on the cover of the December 1969 issue. In 2007 he was awarded an honorary doctorate (

DSc DSC may refer to: Academia * Doctor of Science (D.Sc.) * District Selection Committee, an entrance exam in India * Doctor of Surgical Chiropody, superseded in the 1960s by Doctor of Podiatric Medicine Educational institutions * Dalton State Col ...

) by Massey University in recognition of his work as an

exercise physiologist Exercise physiology is the physiology of physical exercise. It is one of the allied health professions, and involves the study of the acute responses and chronic adaptations to exercise. Exercise physiologists are the highest qualified exercise ...

. A larger than life-size bronze statue of Peter Snell was erected in his hometown of Ōpunake, 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. A similar bronze statue of Snell was unveiled in Cook's Gardens on 15 August 2009 to commemorate his athletic achievements. Interviewed by the ''

Wanganui Chronicle ''The Whanganui Chronicle'' is New Zealand's oldest newspaper. Based in Whanganui, it celebrated 160 years of publishing in September 2016. It is the main daily paper for the Whanganui, Ruapehu and Rangitīkei regions, including the towns of Patea ...

'' 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. 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. Snell was inducted into the Taranaki Sports Hall of Fame at the Taranaki Sports Awards 2021.

Honorific eponyms

In 2001,

Macleans College Macleans College is a co-educational state secondary school located in Eastern Beach, Auckland, New Zealand. The school is named after the Scottish MacLean family who lived and farmed the land of the school and surrounding reserves, and the sc ...

in Auckland created Snell House as part of its "whanau house" system. The Peter Snell Youth Village, on the Whangaparaoa Peninsula, in North Auckland, New Zealand, is also named after him. They run holiday camps for young people. Snell Drive, in the

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

suburb of

Chartwell Chartwell is a country house near Westerham, Kent, in South East England. For over forty years it was the home of Winston Churchill. He bought the property in September 1922 and lived there until shortly before his death in January 1965. In t ...

, is named in Snell's honour. Peter Snell Street is a street in the Bay of Plenty town of Whakatane.

Personal bests

Notes

* En route in the 3:54.1 mile.

References

;Cited references ;General references * Snell, Peter and Gilmour, Garth (1965). ''No Bugles, No Drums''. Auckland: Minerva.

External links

Page with Photo, one of two at ''Sporting Heroes''

Peter Snell – Athlete
– A documentary made in 1964 available to view on

NZ On Screen NZ On Screen is a state-funded online promotional showcase of New Zealand television and film. Funded by NZ On Air, it provides free worldwide access to NZ-produced television, film and music videos. Content is streamed and the webpages provide ...

* , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Snell, Peter 1938 births 2019 deaths Knights Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit New Zealand Officers of the Order of the British Empire People in sports awarded knighthoods New Zealand male middle-distance runners Olympic athletes of New Zealand Olympic gold medalists for New Zealand Athletes (track and field) at the 1960 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1964 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games gold medallists for New Zealand New Zealand emigrants to the United States New Zealand orienteers Male orienteers World record setters in athletics (track and field) University of California, Davis alumni People from Ōpunake Sportspeople from Te Aroha People educated at Mount Albert Grammar School Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics Exercise physiologists Medalists at the 1964 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1960 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field) American orienteers Track & Field News Athlete of the Year winners