SBAC
Home
About the club
Archived News
Newsletters
Committee
Life Members
Links
Little Athletics
Overview
Uniform
Summer Season
Track and Field
Multi Event
Relays
Handicap Event
On track
Calendar
Duty roster
Programs
Training
Cross Country
Overview
Calendar
Results
Club Records
Boys
Girls
Awards
Achievements
Message Board
View
Submit a Message
John Landy
|
World record-holding miler, naturalist, agricultural scientist, photographer, author, environmentalist and governor of the state of Victoria in his native Australia, John Landy epitomized the multi-dimensional sportsman. The second man to run the mile in under four minutes, John did so 46 days after it was first done by Sir Roger Bannister on May 6, 1954. And in doing so, he broke Bannister's world record by 1.4 seconds. Two months later, in August of 1954, in what was billed as the Mile of the Century, Sir Roger won their showdown race in the British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Vancouver, British Columbia in 3 minutes 58 and 8/10ths of a second.
|
| |
|
In all, John ran the mile in less than four minutes six times and held the record for the distance from 1954 until 1957. For a time he also held the world record for 1,500 meters. Ironically, though, as he has said, he is probably best remembered for two races he lost--the one to Sir Roger in 1954 and for one to Ireland's Ron Delany in the 1,500 meters during the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne when John finished third for the bronze medal.
| ||
| But perhaps John's most memorable race, also in Melbourne, was at the Australian National Championships in 1954. Running in the mile race at Olympic Park, he was on a record-setting pace after half a mile when another great miler, Ron Clarke, fell after another runner's spikes clipped his heel. John, after vaulting over Clarke, stopped and helped Clarke to his feet and then, although 60 yards behind the rest of the field when he resumed running, caught up with and overtook the leaders to win the race in 4 minutes and 4 seconds. Almost a half century later, John's gesture of stopping and helping Clarke to his feet was voted the Australian Sporting Moment of the Century. | |
|
One of Australia's greatest sports legends, John later taught grammar school science before becoming chairman of the Australian Wool Research Council and then chairman of the Australian Meat Research Corporation. He also wrote extensively, including two books on natural history. Then, in February of 1998, he was appointed head of the Australian Sports Drug Agency, a watchdog organization designed to prevent the use of illegal performance-enhancing drugs. Two years later, in 2000, he was named the new governor of Victoria. Looking back, John once said, "I may have lost the two biggest races of my running career, but the sport has been a big part of a very rich life." | ||