Van Nelson (born November 24, 1945) is an American former long-distance runner. An Olympian in 1968, he won long-distance track doubles at both the 1967 World Student Games and the 1967 Pan American Games. Born in

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

, Nelson attended

Washburn High School Washburn High School is a four-year public high school serving grades 9–12 in the Tangletown neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. By enrollment, Washburn is the second-largest high school in Minneapolis Public Schools. Hist ...

and began competing in middle distance events there. He broke the school record for the

mile run The mile run (1,760 yards or exactly 1,609.344 metres) is a middle-distance foot race. The history of the mile run event began in England, where it was used as a distance for gambling races. It survived track and field's switch to ...

and was ranked fifth nationally as a high school runner in 1964. He graduated that year (later being inducted into the school's hall of fame) and went on to study at St. Cloud State University. He competed collegiately for the

St. Cloud State Huskies The St. Cloud State Huskies are the athletic teams for St. Cloud State University. The university is primarily a member of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC), and currently sponsors 18 NCAA Division II teams. SCSU also sponsors a ...

in NAIA competitions. He was the team's captain in both

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

and cross country and won seven titles and 12 All-American honours during his four years representing the institution. He was inducted into the St. Cloud Hall of Fame in 1983, featuring in the second group of athletes to be given the honour. At the

Drake Relays The Drake Relays (officially the Drake Relays presented by Xtream powered by Mediacom) is an outdoor track and field event held in Des Moines, Iowa, in Drake Stadium on the campus of Drake University. Billed as ''America's Athletic Classic'', i ...

, he won both the three-mile and six-mile races three times consecutively from 1966 to 1968. Interview with 1968 Olympian Van Nelson
Twin Cities Track Club/Chad Austin (2011-10-05). Retrieved on 2011-11-11. The 1967 season was the peak of Nelson's career. He won the

Amateur Athletic Union The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is an amateur sports organization based in the United States. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs. It h ...

six-mile title then completed a

5000 meters The 5000 metres or 5000-metre run is a common long-distance running event in track and field, approximately equivalent to or . It is one of the track events in the Olympic Games and the World Championships in Athletics, run over laps of a stan ...

10,000 meters The 10,000 metres or the 10,000-metre run is a common long-distance track running event. The event is part of the athletics programme at the Olympic Games and the World Athletics Championships, and is common at championship level events. The race ...

track double at the 1967 World Student Games. He repeated this feat at the 1967 Pan American Games in

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749, ...

, becoming the second man to complete the long-distance double after Argentina's

Osvaldo Suárez Osvaldo Roberto Suárez (March 17, 1934 in Wilde – 16 February 2018) was a long-distance runner from Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of ...

.Van Nelson
Sports Reference. Retrieved on 2011-11-11.
GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2011-11-11. Nelson made his Olympic debut in the 10,000 m at the

1968 Summer Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1968), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XIX Olimpiada) and commonly known as Mexico 1968 ( es, México 1968), were an international multi-sport eve ...

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital city, capital and primate city, largest city of Mexico, and the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North Amer ...

. He was not used to the hot conditions or altitude and his performance suffered as a result. In spite of being ranked eighth in the world for that event, he finished in 28th place with a time of 31:40.2 minutes. Although, he had not performed well, he was pleased to have represented his country at the competition. Nelson returned to his studies at St. Cloud State in 1969, but the year after he suffered a serious back injury due to heavy lifting and the surgery that followed impaired his running ability. He made his last international appearance in 1971 and retired thereafter, although he continued running for pleasure. Nelson has retired from his job as a health teacher, although he still substitute teaches. He still serves as a boys track and field coach at South View Middle School in

Edina EDINA is a centre for digital expertise, based at the University of Edinburgh as a division of the Information Services Group. Services EDINA front-end services (those accessed directly by the user) are available free at the point of use for ...

, Minnesota.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nelson, Van Living people 1945 births American male long-distance runners Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States Olympic track and field athletes for the United States Athletes (track and field) at the 1968 Summer Olympics St. Cloud State University alumni Track and field athletes from Minneapolis Pan American Games medalists in athletics (track and field) Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) Athletes (track and field) at the 1967 Pan American Games Universiade silver medalists for the United States Medalists at the 1967 Summer Universiade Medalists at the 1967 Pan American Games