Tony Manning (born 9 January 1943) is a former track and field athlete from

Coolah Coolah is a town in the central western part of New South Wales, Australia in Warrumbungle Shire. At the 2016 census, Coolah had a population of 1,290. Material was copied from this source, which is available under Creative Commons Attribution ...

in New South Wales,

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, who competed in the

middle-distance running Middle-distance running events are Track and field#Running, track races longer than Sprint (running), 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 clas ...

events. He was born in New South Wales.Athletics Australia profile – Tony Manning
At the

1970 Commonwealth Games The 1970 British Commonwealth Games (Scottish Gaelic: Geamannan a 'Cho-fhlaitheis Bhreatainn 1970) were held in Edinburgh, Scotland, from 16 to 25 July 1970. This was the first time the name British Commonwealth Games was adopted, the first time ...

, Manning won the gold medal ahead of

Ben Jipcho Benjamin Wabura Jipcho (1 March 1943 – 24 July 2020) was a track and field athlete from Kenya, who won the silver medal in the 3000 metres steeplechase at the 1972 Summer Olympics, behind teammate Kipchoge Keino. Jipcho won the 5000 metres rac ...

and Amos Biwott of Kenya after an eventful race in which his teammate Kerry O'Brien fell at the second last water-jump, while leading, and failed to finish the race. In interviews afterwards he stated that his race plan was to stick close to Kerry O’Brien, who had a steady style and good pace judgment, and decided to "go for it" when O’Brien fell. Controversially, he was not selected for the

1968 Olympics 1968 Olympics may refer to: * 1968 Summer Olympics, which were held in Mexico City, Mexico * 1968 Winter Olympics The 1968 Winter Olympics, officially known as the X Olympic Winter Games (french: Les Xes Jeux olympiques d'hiver), were a winter ...

. A tumour operation prevented his participation in the

1972 Olympics 1972 Olympics refers to both: *1972 Winter Olympics, which were held in Sapporo, Japan *1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 (german: München 19 ...

. Other achievements include victory over Kerry O’Brien and Ron Clarke in the 5,000m at the 1970 Australian Championship in 13–56. He won nine consecutive New South Wales state steeplechase championships. With his brother Peter, later a successful junior middle/long-distance running coach in Coolah, he dead-heated in the 10,000 state cross-country championship and a fortnight later beat Bob Vagg over ten miles at Randwick racecourse, running on bare feet, an unofficial Australian record at the time. He was described by fellow-athlete Ron Clarke as "the original and perhaps the only remaining Australian bushwhacker". He travelled six hours twice a week from his home in

to train and compete for Randwick Botany Harriers in the eastern suburbs of Sydney. In 2002 he was listed at number seven in the top ten athletes in the history of New South Wales athleticsCoolrunning
/ref> for his Commonwealth Gold and achievement in having run 8.38 for the steeplechase on a cinders track in a state championship race in 1970. His 3:43.1 in the 1500 metres interclub final in 1970 and 13:55.8 in the 5000 metres stood as records for over 30 years, as did his all-comers record in Papua New Guinea. He married, had four children, and worked for 47 years for Australia Post. He is brother of Kevin Manning (born 2 November 1933), who was Bishop of Parramatta, a suffragan diocese of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney from 1997 to 2010.

International competitions

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Manning, Tony 1943 births Living people Australian male middle-distance runners Australian male steeplechase runners Athletes (track and field) at the 1970 British Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Australia Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics Medallists at the 1970 British Commonwealth Games Sportsmen from New South Wales Australian Athletics Championships winners