John Walker

Medal record
Sir John Walker
Competitor for  New Zealand
Men’s Athletics
Olympic Games
Gold	1976 Montreal	1500 metres
Commonwealth Games
Silver	1974 Christchurch	1500 metres
Silver	1982 Brisbane	1500 metres
Bronze	1974 Christchurch	800 metres

Sir John George Walker, KNZM, CBE, (born January 12, 1952 in Papakura and attended The Manurewa High School) is a former middle distance runner from New Zealand.

Walker is best known for being the first human being to run the mile in under 3:50, posting a time of 3:49.4, breaking the existing world record by over 1.5 seconds. He also won the Olympic Games 1500 metres in Montreal in 1976. This achievement came during an Olympic games that were boycotted by 22 African countries to protest against a tour of South Africa by the All Blacks, the New Zealand national rugby team. Although Walker was still hoping to set a world record, the Africans' absence was probably felt. Walker won the race in the relatively high time of 3:39.17, the slowest Olympic 1500 metres finish in 20 years.

1974 Commonwealth Games

Walker had already achieved world prominence in 1974 when he ran second to Filbert Bayi in the 1500 meter run at the Commonwealth Games in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was a remarkable race, since not only did both Bayi and Walker better the previous world record, but also it featured the fourth, fifth, and seventh fastest performances of all time. Its status as one of the all-time great 1500 metre races is assured by virtue of the fact that Walker, 22 at the time, and Bayi, 21, would prove dominant over the distance. Also at the 1974 Commonwealth Games Walker won the bronze medal in the 800 metres in 1:44.92, his lifetime best for the distance, and still the second-fastest New Zealander ever, behind Peter Snell.

Throughout his career as a world-class miler Walker was coached by Arch Jelley, a school principal, and a middle distance runner himself, whose work with runners has been typified by meticulous training programmes on a scientific basis and effective communications in person.

World record breaking runs

Walker broke the World Record in the mile run with a time of 3:49.4 minutes set at Göteborg, Sweden, on 12 August 1975, bettering the previous time set by Filbert Bayi. It was the first time that the Three minutes and 50 seconds barrier had been broken, and it was a full 10 seconds faster than Roger Bannister's historic sub-Four-Minute Mile of 3:59.4 that was run twenty-one years previous. He was named Athlete of the Year by Track and Field News the same year.

Walker's new record lasted until 17 July 1979, when it was lowered by the Briton Sebastian Coe.

The following year Walker broke the world record for the 2000 metres, running 4:51.4 in Oslo, Norway, on 30 June 1976. He smashed the existing ten-year-old record held by Michel Jazy by nearly five seconds, Walker regarded this run as the best he ever ran. Steve Cram would not better Walker's record by running 4:51.4 at Budapest, Hungary until 4 August 1985. Indoors, Walker broke the 1500 metre world record with a time of 3:37.4 in 1979.

1976 Montreal Olympic Games

In the 800 metres Walker failed to advance to the semi-finals missing the top two qualifying spots in his heat running a time of 1:47.63.

However Walker was a favourite to win the 1500 metres due to the African boycott of the Games weakening the field. The 1500 metres final started at a slow pace going through 800 metres in 2:03. The race would come down to a fast finish. In a bid to out-sprint runners that were quicker over 800 metres, Walker started his finishing sprint 300 metres from the finish, fading in the last 20 metres holding out Ivo Van Damme and Paul-Heinz Wellmann to win the gold medal.^[1] Although it seemed that the boycott denied Bayi (who was Walker's main rival) the opportunity to challenge for the 1500 metre title, Bayi likely would not have competed, anyway, because of an attack of malaria that he suffered. Walker would justify his Olympic Gold over several record-breaking years.

New Zealand records

During 1981 he set a New Zealand all-comers' record of 3:50.6 in Auckland.

In 1982 in Oslo, Norway, Steve Scott (3:47.69), John Walker (3:49.08), and Ray Flynn (3:49.77) took the top three spots in The Dream Mile, establishing American, New Zealand, and Irish national records for the mile in the same race. All three national records stood for 25 years until 21 July 2007, when Alan Webb broke Scott's American record. Walker and Flynn's times remain national records.

Running twilight

At the 1982 Commonwealth Games in Brisbane he won the silver medal in the 1500 metres finishing behind Steve Cram. He moved up up to the 5000 metres distance for both the 1984 Olympic Games and the 1986 Commonwealth Games with limited success. He raced at the 1990 Commonwealth Games competing in both the 800 and 1500 metres, where he was tripped early on in the latter.

Walker became the first man in history to run 100 sub-4 minute miles in 1985, achieving that feat just before fellow miler Steve Scott of the U.S.

As his career wore on leg injuries and stomach cramps had started to affect his training more often. In the early 1990s he aimed to be the first runner aged over 40 to run a mile under four minutes, but his attempts failed due to a leg injury. At this point his international career had shown remarkable longevity - spanning almost two decades. Walker ended his racing career with an astonishing 135 sub-four-minute miles.

He was inducted into the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame in 1990, and in 1996 the Olympic Committee awarded him with the Olympic Bronze Order.

After running

Also in 1996, Walker announced that he was suffering from Parkinson's disease. He now operates an equestrian shop in Newmarket in Auckland, New Zealand with his wife, Helen, and he is also a Manukau City Councillor. Walker and his wife have four children: Elizabeth, Richard, Timothy, and Caitlin.

On 1 June 2009 in the Queen's Birthday Honours List, Walker was appointed Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit^[2]

Personal Bests

References

External links

• Biography New Zealand Olympic Committee
• Page with Photo, one of two at Sporting Heroes
• IAAF Biography

Video Links

• Video Interview of John Walker talking about his Olympic Win

Records
Preceded by Filbert Bayi	Men's Mile World Record Holder August 12, 1975 — July 17, 1979	Succeeded by Sebastian Coe
Awards and achievements
Preceded by Rick Wohlhuter	Men's Track & Field Athlete of the Year 1975	Succeeded by Alberto Juantorena