Peter Snell, Athlete (1964)

New Zealand National Film Unit presents Peter Snell, Athlete (1964) Widely considered one of the greatest middle-distance runners of all time, Peter Snell broke the world mile record on 27 January 1962, on a grass track at Cook’s Garden, Whanganui. Snell covered the distance in 3 minutes 54.4 seconds. A week later, he set new world records for both the 800 metres and the 880 yards at Christchurch. He then won gold and set a new record for the 880 yards at the Commonwealth Games in Perth, 1962. Snell also won gold for the mile at those same games. Snell came to international attention when he won the gold medal and set a new national record for the 800m at the Rome Olympics in 1960. Four years later, at the Tokyo Olympics in 1964 he won the gold, and set a new Olympic record in the 800 metres, and won gold in the 1500 metres. This double achievement was not achieved again by a male athlete in open global championship until Rashid Ramzi of Bahrain won both golds at the 2005 World Championships