Sir John Walker - World Mile Record 1975 & Olympic 1500m Gold 1976
Sir John Walker running 3:49.4 to break the World Mile Record in Gothenburg in 1975 and winning the Olympic 1500m in Montreal in 1976.
Taken from the superb ITV Documentary - The Supermilers.
Comments
One of my favorite middle distance runners when I was growing up. He was a tiger. I alway's thought he and Marty Liquori were the coolest milers.
I met and got the autograph of John (not a Sir then) as a kid around '79 or so at the Mason Dixon Games indoor meet in Kentucky. He won the 1500.
The only thing that put a damper on Walker's victory in Montreal was the fact that Filbert Bayi wasn't there. Many have speculated that if it wasn't for the African boycott that the 1500 final probably would have been an all time classic with the potential of a world record. Unfortunately we never got such a duel.
Ken Hall from Australia was second in this race. He personally asked me to time him over a 1,200 metre time trial before he went to Europe to race John Walker.
John Walker broke the world mile, going under 3:50 for the first time in history-great. There was no stopping John in the 1500 m. at Montreal. Walker was a role model for young NZ athletes.
stunning...go kiwi!
Snell.
Greatest middle-distance runner of all-time.
John has such an effortless running style.
Fantastic upload. Thanks for posting it. I've been looking for years to see John Walker's Mile world record run. He ran sub 56 seconds for the last 440 yards!
You see the amazing spurt Walker throws in at about 2:31 (on the video) when he glances over and sees Wolhuter right there. He gains three or four yards almost instantly. Incredible.
Walker was a salesman for a radio station and I was the media director of a major ad agency, so I made sure he earned enough to be able to run when and where he needed.
Awesome. Never seen the Goteburg footage before but remember the b/w still clip from T&FN.
tommy can you download the supermilers documentary, thats first class doc.