Today in History

1976 John Walker wins gold in Montreal

Following in the footsteps of Jack Lovelock and Peter Snell, Walker won gold in the Olympic 1500 metres. Black African nations boycotted the Games in protest over the All Blacks' tour of South Africa.

The 1500-m final at the 1976 Olympic Games was meant to be a confrontation between Walker and Filbert Bayi of Tanzania. Bayi had won gold to Walker's silver in the event at the 1974 Commonwealth Games, with both men breaking the world record. Both expressed disappointment that they would not be competing against each other after Tanzania withdrew from the Olympics as part of the boycott. There is doubt, though, whether Bayi would have competed, as he suffered from a bout of malaria shortly before the games.

After focusing his pre-Games training on how to beat Bayi, who always led from the start, Walker instead faced a field full of fast finishers. He and his coach, Arch Jelley, planned to tackle the field by forcing the pace before the final straight. As the race progressed Walker became concerned that the pace was too slow and that it would come down to a sprint against the 'sitters and kickers'. It was Eamonn Coghlan of Ireland who gave Walker the opportunity to get ahead of the field. With about 270 m to go Coghlan took off, leading Walker out to the front of the field. Heading into the top bend, the New Zealander surged into the lead.

Walker won gold in a time of 3:39.17. Ivo van Damme of Belgium won silver in 3:39.27 and Paul-Heinz Wellmann of West Germany won bronze in 3:39.33. Coghlan, who Walker credits as having helped him win gold, missed out on a medal, placing fourth.

Walker's medal was the first Olympic track gold won by a New Zealander since Peter Snell's 800m and 1500m double at Tokyo in 1964. After Montreal, it would take 32 years for New Zealand to claim another medal on the track (although Lorraine Moller won bronze in the women's marathon in 1992). At Beijing in 2008, Nick Willis surpassed all expectations to claim a thrilling 1500-m bronze against the might of the African runners who now dominate middle-distance events.

Image: still from film of John Walker's gold-medal winning run (YouTube)