ABSTRACT
The late Arthur Lydiard, a New Zealander, was a coach of highly successful distance runners in the 1960s and 1970s. For example, he coached New Zealand athletes Peter Snell and Murray Halberg to victory in the 800-metre and 5,000-metre races in the 1960 Rome Olympics. In 1961, Snell broke three world records in 800-metre, 880-yard and mile races. Ron Clarke, the Australian runner who broke 19 world records in the 1960s, and the very successful group of New Zealand distance runners in the 1970s (Dick Tayler, Rod Dixon, Dick Quax), as well as 1976 Olympic 1,500-metre champion John Walker, all used his basic training methods. During a stay in Finland in 1966-67, Lydiard was also able to influence Finnish coaches and athletes, with Pekka Vasala (1972, 1,500 metres) and Lasse Virén (1972, 1976, 10,000 metres) later producing Olympic gold-winning performances based on his methods. He influenced countless coaches over the years and his training methods are still recognized and used throughout the world of distance running today (Downes, 2004).
