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This Day in Track & Field–January 12
1957–While leafing through old issues of Track and Field News, it’s always a kick to come across what was probably the first mention of an athlete who went on to achieve greatness. Such was the case in the January, 1957, issue, when Joe Galli wrote, “Aussie track was lifted out of the ‘post-Olympic doldrums’ (WM-Melbourne had just hosted the 1956 Games) by the appearance of a potential top world class miler, Herb Elliott of Perth”.
The 18-year old Elliott, who was being coached by the legendary Percy Cerutty, had run 4:06.0 for the mile on this day at Olympic Park to break fellow Australian Ron Clarke’s unofficial World Junior record by .8s. Elliott went on to set World Records in the 1500 and mile and win the gold medal in the 1500-meters at the 1960 Olympics, and is considered one of the greatest milers in history. Cerutty had predicted 2-years earlier that Elliott would become a world record holder, but the youngster’s career suffered a temporary setback in a freak accident in late 1955 when a piano crushed his foot!
Elliott Photos: http://tinyurl.com/yaxxn9r
https://vault.si.com/vault/1958/11/10/the-amazing-herb-elliott
https://www.life.com/history/training-with-the-worlds-first-paleo-crossfitting-locavore/
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