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Arthur Lydiard is the man who knows everything there is to know about running. He can make anybody in any part of the world run faster and farther with his understanding of “what,” “how,” and “why” of training. After his runners’ success in 1960 at Rome Olympics where Peter Snell and Murray Halberg won a gold medal with Barry Magee’s bronze medal, all the eyes in the running world were on this tiny shoe-maker from Auckland, New Zealand, who coached all these three young men. Many countries came to invite him to coach their coaches as well as athletes and set up an athletic program.
He would eventually go to Mexico, Finland, Venezuela, and Denmark as their national coach. He had relatively moderate success in Mexico, in a short period of time with limited co-operation, when Juan Martinez finished 4th in both 5,000 and 10,000 meters at Mexico City Olympic Games in 1968. However, his most famous overseas stay was in Finland where his influence produced 3 gold medals and 1 bronze in 1972 Munich Olympics with Lasse Viren, Pekka Vasala, and Tapio Kantanen; and a set of next generation of “Flying Finns” that followed in the 70s and 80s.
For his effort, he was awarded the White Cross, the equivalent of Knighthood in Finland. He is the only non-Finnish to have received this honor. One of the first countries to follow Lydiard’s revolutionary training method, however, was the host country of 1964 Olympic Games, Japan.
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