1960 Olympic 1500m Final

[gowers1972]

The narration is done by Bud Greenspan -- or is he the producer of the film?

[TheJimmyNewc]

Who is narrating?

[MrMalcolmoz]

he retired in 1961.

[MrMalcolmoz]

@mytime81 Wiki is not a great source. Here is the link to his own speaker's bureau resume. google -herb elliott retired - here is is own resume page.

from saxton.com.au

"Even though Herb Elliott retired at age 22, ......

[brianclough]

The first Australian to win the men's 1500m at the Olympics, since the 1st Australian Olympian Edwin Flack did so in the 1st Olympics. Unbeaten and dual record holder, in the then blue riband events in athletics, the 1500m and the mile.

A golden era then for Oceanic runners like Landy, Doubell and Snell, who dominated the middle distance events.

A super vid, thanks for uploading.

[walktall1]

My all time hero!! Fantastic video clips. Thanks. What a race it could have been between Elliot and Snell in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, in which I had the honour in competing in the 1500m final with Snell.

[poo72]

Elliot is one of the most talented runners of all time. He ended his career as a young man soon after this race. I have read that he was a heavy smoker, too.

[lucasboden]

Were races segregated in 1960? Where are the black runners?

[futuremodal]

Actually, an Ethopian (Abebe Bikila) won the marathon at the Rome games back in 1960. Africans were there, they just hadn't developed a relatively sophisticated training regime yet. 1968 was the breakout Olympics for Africans.

[mytime81]

Nothing to do with sophisticated training regime. Ethiopia was not colonised and all the other African countries were under occupation. Colonial masters never gave them a chance to feature. Look at the Olympics of 68 and see how they took it by storm after independence of most countries!!!

[daveycard]

@mytime81 yeah true but you can only compete and train against those who are out there. Elliott was the master. Nobody races like this anymore... not even the dominant Africans.

[MrMalcolmoz]

He ran 3:35 on a cinder track. In 68 they ran 3:34.5 on a tartan track - not much of a storm.

Herb Elliot is an all time great. He retired at 22. A time when most were just starting. He wasn't responsible for African colonialism. This was 1960, not 1860

Abibi Bekela had a pretty successful career at about that time. Most of the African runners at that level were paid by the police forces, or the army, so they had a pretty good opportuinity to succeed. The were hardly amateurs.

[mytime81]

@MrMalcolmoz I agree with you that Elliot is an all time great. Sophisticated training regimes cannot implant talents. That's part of what I meant. You either have it or not. Elliot had it. Why did he retire at 22??

[mytime81]

@MrMalcolmoz I have read his biography on Wikipedia, he is a great human being even outside of athletics, he however retired at 24 and not 22 in 1964 according to the information there in.

[MrMalcolmoz]

@mytime81 

[Traviskula]

@mytime81 I'm sure the altitude of Mexico City had nothing to do with it

[mangroveoz]

@Traviskula It sure didn't - the 1960 Olympics were in Rome.

[Traviskula]

@mangroveoz My comment was @mytime81, who was talking about the Mexico City games in 1968. Hence the "@mytime81" next to my comment. So, actually yes, it sure did.

[wayzotoichi]

Great clips great ahtletes wow.

btw I think he looks like Leonard Rossiter of 'Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin' and 'Rising Damp'. :)

[FinnMove]

Herbert Elliot and Michel Jazy were heroes in the 1960´s. Roc Clarke was the third one though he had no success in the Olympics.

[570432348]

how can you say no success to a man with a bronze olympic medal what are you thinking

[FinnMove]

The olympics in Mexico 1968 were a huge disappointment to Ron Clarke.

He had a world record in 5000 metres and 10000 metres. In the "normal" place he could have won both races like a hero.

But olympics in 1968 were in a very high place. It was favourable only to the African

runners who were used to that kind of conditions.

[570432348]

You are not fair here . You said no suscess which is not true and you know it.Also the olympics are set up for kickers If ron could race each man one at a time he would kill them I agree but in an olympic finale after 1 2 or 3 other racesthe odds change. also I think a non kicker has to run harder in qualifing because he cant chance letting guys hang around

[tassaj]

Quite right, my mistake.

[tassaj]

I just heard on the radio that running the time he ran in 1960 to win, he would have won the 1500m Gold at every subsequent Olympics until 2000. What a supreme champion.

Apparently the French bloke who set the early fast pace went out so hard to tire out his French 'teammate' and ensure he didn't win.... gotta love that French esprit de corp

[cjh007]

Actually Kip Keino ran 3:34.91 in 1968 and Seb Coe ran 3:32.53 in 1984.

It was quality nonetheless since he ran a crazy negative split in this race.

[billyscience]

those were the days with ron clarke, herb elliot, john landy.

[billyscience]

wat dvd is this from?

[NFXA113]

Ha ha, "all I knew was that I felt absolutely.....'tired' "

[pckid888]

What the hell are they playing god save the queen for?? He's not british!!

[tikusair2yahoo]

Because that was Australia's national anthem at that time as well

[juan833cheer]

In 1984 was when Australia changed its anthem from God Save the Queen to Advance Australia Fair.

[StuC5]

I suspect we won't see too many Olympic races like this again, where one athlete so stamps his authority over the other runners, who were no slouches. Compare this with the World Champs 5000m in Osaka, where everyone ran as if scared of their own shadows, nobody prepared to have a real go until the last 400m. Fear of defeat rather than passion for victory.

[mrcatohead]

as much as i hate to admit it thats true, these days with record being run in the european circuit the olympics isnt about facing the best in the world anymore cause they all do it anyway, so the races just come down to who has the biggest finishing kick

[johnnyzing]

@StuC5 Great quote StuC5!! >Fear of defeat rather than passion for victory.< Those words are helping me now in 2010. I needed those words to break me out of this mesmerism I was experiencing. It's hard to explain but your words did it for me. It's the passion not the fear that must reign supreme. I feel your words more than you'll ever know. Bless your wisdom of words StuC5! John-Hans Melcher

[jTeamRenzo]

does anyone know the name of the original program that this is from, not the milers dvd, i saw it years ago, it had all the greats, viren, clayton, zatopek etc. it was a documentary on distance running... anyone?

[thefogster61]

Ok. I remember these documentaries were aired alot when I was in school in the late 70s. Bud Greenspan was the producer and maker of the shows. They had lots of them on all sports. I just did a google search and the name of the series was The Olympiad.

[jmoleary]

It is called "Olympiad", I believe. I have it on VHS. There are something like 6 to 8 tapes. I don't think they have released it on DVD. If you google it you might be able to find it. I need to get it coverted to DVD

[garpg001]

it was called "numero uno" i had forgotten it existed until i saw this footage

[janet928]

Greatest 1500 runner ever!!!

[johnlvs2run]

great race, thank you for sharing.

[kerrigan2]

The perfect 1500m.

[musik102]

Stupid commentary. Elliott didn't fear Jazy. Infact, he admitted after the race that he'd never heard of Jazy.

[prrolg]

Money was probably the most important factor,right

[leopardboy]

I don't think there was much money to be had as amateur athlete in those days.

[basilcruncher]

Fantastic old video - and the suspense of why he retired remains...

[prrolg]

Why did Herb Elliot retire. We will never know.

[hughbee6]

Because he had done all he could--less than a year later he went to Cambridge Uni and almost lost in a freshers race to Martin Heath in about 4.16 He ran cross country a few times for Cambridge Uni and then got on with the rest of his life

[mescalero19]

No matter what the pace was Herb Elliot took over at the half and led fom there to the finish of the race, this was a unique charateristic of his running. what a great runner, never beaten in the mile or 1500 meters! Had some classic runs against Merv Lincoln. Retired undeafeated, like Rocky Marciano, the public always wants more, he was and is his own man and beholden to no one, I admire him for sharing the God given gift he had.

[hughbee6]

spot on he had done all he could and retired at the top he did run cross country for Cambridge Uni v Oxford Uni and in the British Universities Championships

[leopardboy]

Very interesting. I had never heard about that.

[SuperJoe22]

classic!