Peter Snell

Peter George Snell was born in Opunake, Taranaki, New Zealand. As a teenager in Auckland, Snell showed prowess in tennis and cricket before dedicating himself to running under revolutionary coach Arthur Lydiard. Lydiard subjected middle-distance runners to grueling 100-mile training weeks in the Waitākere Ranges, developing immense aerobic stamina beneath Snell's powerful 5-foot-11, 175-pound physique.

At the 1960 Rome Olympics, twenty-one-year-old Snell was virtually unknown internationally. In the 800-meter final, he produced a stunning finishing burst down the inside rail, edging world record holder Roger Moens of Belgium by inches to win gold in an Olympic record time. In January 1962 in Whanganui, Snell electrified New Zealand by breaking Herb Elliott's world mile record (3:54.4) on a grass track, followed a week later by breaking the 800-meter and 880-yard world records in Christchurch.

Snell reached his athletic summit at the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games, executing the fabled 800m and 1,500m middle-distance double—a feat achieved by only two other men in Olympic history. In the 1,500m final, Snell accelerated away on the final lap, winning by 1.5 seconds in a display of effortless supremacy. Retiring at twenty-six, Snell moved to the United States, earned a PhD in exercise physiology from Washington State University, and led groundbreaking cardiovascular research at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.