Arthur Lydiard

Arthur Lydiard

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Arthur Lydiard
Nationality New Zeland
PR Marathon 2:39:05
Born July 6, 1917 at Auckland, New Zealand
Died Dec. 11, 2004 at Texas

Arthur Leslie Lydiard, ONZ, OBE, (July 6, 1917 – December 11, 2004) was a New Zealand runner and athletics coach.

He also played rugby for 13 years. After World War II, when he dropped rugby, he started jogging to stay in shape. He eventually trained 100 miles a week and won several New Zealand marathon championships.

His best-known New Zealand runners, all of whom came to prominence in the 1960's, were Peter Snell, Murray Halberg, Bill Baillie and John Davies. He coached Snell to world records in the mile and half-mile. From 1965 to 1972, he coached the Olympic or national teams or both for Mexico, Finland, Venezuela and Denmark.

He was the co-author, with Garth Gilmour, of several books on running, including "Jogging With Lydiard" and "Running the Lydiard Way."

Contents

Honors

  • Made an OBE in 1962
  • Awarded NZ's highest royal honour, membership of the Order of New Zealand 1990
  • Inducted into New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame, 1990
  • Made life member of Athletics NZ, 2003[1]

Quotes About Lydiard

Bill Bowerman, "I am but the disciple. Arthur Lydiard is the prophet."[2]

External links

Notes

  1. http://www.multidays.com/html/articles/arthur_lydiard_article.htm
  2. George Chesterton (2004, August 1). NO TURNING BACK: Arthur Lydiard, athletics coach :[First Edition]. The Independent on Sunday,p. 11.