Peter Snell
Snell at the 1964 Olympics | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Peter George Snell |
| Born | 17 December 1938 Ōpunake, New Zealand |
| Died | 12 December 2019 (aged 80) Dallas, Texas, United States |
| Height | 1.79 m (5 ft 10 in) |
| Weight | 80 kg (176.4 lb; 12.6 st) |
| Sport | |
| Sport | Athletics |
| Event(s) | 800 m, 1500 m |
| Coached by | Arthur Lydiard |
| Achievements and titles | |
| Personal best(s) | 800 metres: 1:44.3 (WR) 880 yards: 1:45.1 WR 1000 metres: 2:16.6 WR 1500 metres: 3:37.61 Mile: 3:54.4 WR Mile 3:54.1 WR 4 × 1 mile relay: 16.23.8 WR (with Murray Halberg, Gary Philpott & Barry Magee) |
Sir Peter George Snell KNZM OBE (17 December 1938 – 12 December 2019) was a New Zealand middle-distance runner. He won three Olympic gold medals, and is the only man since 1920 to have won the 800 and 1500 metres at the same Olympics, in 1964.
Snell had a relatively short career as a world-famous international sportsman, 1960–1965, yet achieved so much that he was voted New Zealand's "Sports Champion of the (20th) Century" and was one of 24 inaugural members of the International Association of Athletics Federations Hall of Fame named in 2012. A protégé of the New Zealand athletics coach Arthur Lydiard, Snell is known for the three Olympic and two Commonwealth Games gold medals he won, and the several world records he set.