The Otago Daily Times counts down the 150 greatest moments in Otago sport.
No 57: Welsh wins steeplechase gold in Jamaica (1966)
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.
