peter snell

At the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, New Zealand's rowing eight won gold and the coxless fours won silver. Rod Dixon, who claimed bronze in the 1500 metres, was the only other New Zealand medal winner at these Games.

The Romanos list

In his book Our Olympic century (2008), well-known sports writer Joseph Romanos gave his pick of New Zealand's best Olympians. Do you agree with his choices? Add your comments or alternative picks in the Community Contributions section below.

Training the best in the world

The cult of masculinity had one positive spin-off: Arthur Lydiard. A runner of iron will but limited natural ability, he discovered that as he ran further he got fitter. Lydiard found that 100-mile weeks could be tolerated by healthy athletes; indeed, they thrived, especially when plenty of hills were included in the training regime.

In the eight days leading up to the Olympic 1500-m final Snell had already run five races: the heats, semi-final and final of the 800 m – in which he won gold – and the heats and semi-final of the 1500 m. Joining him in the 1500-m final was Kiwi teammate John Davies, who just made it through his semi-final, placing third.

Widely considered one of the greatest middle distance runners of all time, Snell broke Herb Elliott’s world record on a grass track at Cook’s Gardens, Whanganui, covering the distance in 3 minutes 54.4 seconds.