SPORTSMANSHIP

The recent passing of John Landy got me thinking of just how few instances there are of sportsmanship these days. You will remember how John Landy when running in the Australian championships for the mile in the lead up to the Melbourne Olympics actually stopped during the race to turn around and check on the runner who he had accidentally spiked while jostling for positions mid-way through the race.

As an aside, that runner happened to be teenager Ron Clarke who went on to light the cauldron at the MCG at the opening of the Games. He then went on to set world records in 10k and 5k races throughout the 1960’s. He only missed out on a gold medal himself because of altitude issues at the Mexico City Games.

Back now to the race involved in that act of sportsmanship and it came to pass that although Landy lost about 25 metres by stopping he went on to win the race against what was then the best in the country. Remember too that Landy not only won a bronze medal at Melbourne, but he also went on to become just the second man to break the magical four minutes for the mile. His long-term rival, Roger Bannister was the first, but it is worth noting that when he did it Bannister had two or three university mates pacing him. In other words, they would run one lap at the speed he needed to be at to break that mark and then could drop off the pace.

Their rivalry peaked sometime later at the Empire Games (now Commonwealth) in Canada when Bannister outsmarted Landy in the straight when Landy looked the wrong way when he heard ‘footsteps’ as Bannister mounted his challenge. Their rivalry was only matched by Steve Ovett and Sebastian Coe in the 80’s. I always fancied myself as a bit of a middle-distance runner and could match it with the best but sadly only for one maybe two laps and not the four.

Back to the Landy legend and we all know that John went on to impress everyone even more with his humility and integrity. So much so he became one of Victoria’s best loved Governors. Some years ago, they unveiled a statue of the race incident in Melbourne to coincide with the Commonwealth Games when they were held there. Even then he downplayed the incident, but it does serve as a reminder of just what sport was like in that era.

So, Bruce McAvaney described it as the ‘greatest act of sportsmanship’ in all of our sporting history. Is that a fair call? I went around the grandstand looking for alternatives and there just aren’t any. Can you think of any?

I will finish with what others had to say. In 1999 the Sports Australia Hall of Fame described his actions that day as “the finest sporting moment of the century”. Big call that. When Roger Bannister retired from competition in 1955, he described Landy as “faster, neater and more generous than any other”. RIP John Landy.