With the 2012 London Olympics just around the corner, we thought we would look back at some of our favourite Olympic moments. Today, Brent Edwards looks at Peter Snell's 800m win at the 1960 Rome Games.
Peter Snell was just another name; just another Kiwi athlete with a dream. But, as the voice of commentator Lance Cross crackled through the static at our Karitane crib on September 3, 1960, he became my latest boyhood hero.
It was the 800m final at the Rome Olympics and Snell (21), an international unknown, had drawn the outside lane. Little was expected of him and, for much of the race, he ran in relative anonymity.
He was boxed in, but when a gap did appear, Snell pounced like a panther, drew level with Belgian Roger Moens, and won in the last few strides.
Cross's usually modulated tones rose to a crescendo of excitement. In 1min 46.3sec, Snell had run his way into history.
Less than an hour later, Murray Halberg won gold in the 5000m. It was the greatest hour in New Zealand athletics history, but it was only the start of what was to be a stunningly successful career for Snell.
He went on to win two Commonwealth Games gold medals and to do the double of the 800m-1500m at the Tokyo Olympics in 1964.
At his best, and that was most of the time, Snell seemed not only indestructible but unbeatable.
Cassius Clay (18), later to be Muhammad Ali, won the light-heavyweight gold medal at the Rome Olympics and Wilma Rudolph won three golds in the sprints.
But, for New Zealanders of the 1960s, the memories will be of Cross's voice rising in intensity as he described Snell's dramatic charge to victory.
