The Otago Daily Times counts down the 150 greatest
moments in Otago sport.
No 57: Welsh wins steeplechase gold in
Jamaica (1966)
Peter Welsh competes at the 1966 Commonwealth Games in
Kingston. Photo by The Games.
Peter Welsh was one of three Olympians who emerged from
Wakari Primary School in the 1950s.
He was joined by Roger Johnson (400m hurdles) and Evan
Maguire (10,000m) in Mexico City in 1968. They were all
taught to run by Ossie Johnson when Wakari dominated the
annual Otago primary school sports.
Welsh learned the techniques of sprinting and hurdling and
developed a tough, competitive attitude at that time.
He used this to win a gold medal in the 3km steeplechase at
the Kingston Commonwealth Games in Jamaica in 1966.
Welsh had represented New Zealand at the world cross-country
and understood what was needed to be successful in the
international arena.
He faced a top class field at Kingston and was not the
pre-race favourite.
That honour went to Australian Kerry O'Brien, who had run
faster times, while the emerging Kenyan athletes, especially
Ben Kogo, were expected to make their mark.
Welsh let the others set the pace through the middle stages
of the race. With two laps to go, O'Brien and Australian
team-mate Ian Blackwood made a move.
Maurice Herriott, the top-ranked Englishman went with them.
Then Welsh went up to join them. Into the last lap he passed
Blackwood.
With a superior hurdling technique, Welsh gave himself every
chance and at the first hurdle he moved past Herriott.
He took the next hurdle with ease and then set sail for the
water jump. A leap, with a push-off to get as far as possible
out of the water, could be vital. It was.
He emerged 5m in front of O'Brien. By the last hurdle he was
10m in front and at the finish he won by 20m.
His time of 8min 29.6sec was 11sec faster than he had run
before and bettered by only two runners in the world at that
time. It was a New Zealand record.
Two years later, he finished sixth in his heat at the
Olympics.
Welsh studied medicine at the University of Otago,
concentrated on orthopaedics, and started one of the first
sports injury clinics in Canada in 1973.
He was Associate Professor of Surgery at the University of
Toronto and chief of staff at the Orthopaedic and Arthritic
Hospital until the end of 1997, when he returned to New
Zealand and settled in Wellington.
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