1960’s THE GOLDEN HOUR AND THE INCREDIBLE TOKYO OLYMPIC GAMES

 

  • The “Golden Hour’ in Rome when Sir Peter Snell (OLY#151) (800m) and Sir Murray Halberg (OLY#94) (5,000m) both win gold within the same hour, both coached by Arthur Lydiard.  The first time New Zealand had won two athletics gold medals at an Olympic Games.

Arthur Lydiard's star pupils Murray Halberg and Peter Snell at the Games of the XVII Olympiad, Rome 1960. Photo: New Zealand Olympic Museum Collection.

  • At the Games in Rome 1960, the Olympic rings appeared on the formal New Zealand Team blazer for the first time alongside the fern.

  • Barry Magee (OLY#136) won New Zealand’s first Olympic marathon medal, when he took the bronze at Rome in 1960. Since then, Mike Ryan (OLY#245) (bronze in 1968) and Lorraine Moller (OLY#476) (bronze in 1992) have followed him.

Bronze medalist Marise Chamberlain (right) on the podium with Gold medalist Ann Packer of Great Britain and Silver medalist Maryvonne Dupureur of France at the Games of the XVIII Olympiad, Tokyo 1964. Photo: Getty Images.

  • In 1964, Marise Chamberlain (OLY#166) became New Zealand’s first (and so far only) female athlete to win a track medal at an Olympic Games, when she was third in the 800m.
  • Sir Peter Snell (OLY#151) became the first New Zealander to win two gold medals at one Olympic Games when he won the 800m and 1500m at Tokyo in 1964.
  • When Sir Peter Snell (OLY#151) was first and John Davies (OLY#168) third in the 1964 Olympic 1500m, it was the first time two New Zealanders had won medals in the same Olympic event.
  • New Zealand won its first rowing gold medal when the men’s coxed four won their event at Mexico City in 1968.

  • Ian Ballinger (OLY#213) won New Zealand’s first shooting Olympic medal when he was third in the smallbore in Mexico City in 1968. He made the Olympic teams again in 1972 and 1976 and was even selected for the 1980 team, though he could not compete because of the boycott that year.