In 1964, Snell was looking for a great performance at the Tokyo Olympics to cap his career and he did it, completing a rare 800m-1500m gold medal double. He was a little concerned about the 800 metres, which came first, because he felt he might have lost some of his speed. However, he cruised through to the final and then ran brilliantly to record the second-fastest time ever (behind his own world record).