Herb Elliott
Personal information | |
---|---|
Birth name | Herbert James Elliott |
Nickname | Herb |
Nationality | Australian |
Born | Subiaco, Western Australia, Australia | 25 February 1938
Height | 5 ft 11 in (180 cm)[1] |
Weight | 150 lb (68 kg)[1] |
Sport | |
Country | Australia |
Sport | Middle-distance running |
Coached by | Percy Cerutty |
Achievements and titles | |
Olympic finals | Rome 1960 |
Personal bests | : 3:54.5 (1958, WR) |
Medal record |
Herbert James Elliott
Herb Elliot never lost a mile run and accomplished 36 wins over this distance.[2] During his career, he broke four minutes for the mile on 17 occasions. Only David Richards[citation needed] came close to beating him.
Elliott retired from athletics soon after the 1960 Olympics, at the age of 22.
Biography
Elliott was born on 25 February 1938 at Kensington Hospital,
On 6 August 1958, Elliott set a new world record for the mile (3:54.5) at Morton Stadium in Dublin. Later that month he broke the 1500 metres world record in Gothenburg with a time of 3:36.0. His closest Australian rival at the time was Merv Lincoln.
Commonwealth and Olympic Games
At the 1958 Commonwealth Games in Cardiff, Wales, he won gold in the 880 yards and the mile. Two years later, at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, Elliott won the 1500 m gold medal in world record time (3:35.6), finishing 2.6 seconds ahead of second placed Michel Jazy of France.
Elliott credited his visionary and iconoclastic coach, Percy Cerutty, with inspiration to train harder and more naturally than anyone of his era. Cerutty was known to avoid the track, talk about role models outside athletics (such as Leonardo da Vinci and Jesus), and bring his athletes to the unspoiled seaside beauty of Portsea training camp south of Melbourne, where Elliott would sprint up sand dunes until he dropped. "Faster", Cerutty would say, "it's only pain."
University education
Elliott originally studied at the
Business
Elliott served as the CEO of
Sydney Olympics
Elliott was one of the
Family
On 2 May 1959, Elliott married Anne Dudley, a hairdresser from Perth. They have six children.[15][16]
Honours
Elliott carried the torch of peace to the
His career inspired the 1962 Australian television play The Runner written by Alan Seymour.
In the Queen's Birthday Honours List of 1964, he was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE). In the Queen's Birthday Honours List of 2002, he was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC), to wit:
For service to community leadership through the development of sport in Australia, continuing involvement in the Olympic movement at national and international levels, and as a supporter and benefactor of community and charitable organisations for youth, health promotion and cultural understanding.
He is an
He was inducted into the
Further reading
- Herb Elliott; Alan Trengove (1961). The Golden Mile. Cassell. 2286575. Foreword by Percy Cerutty
- Reissue Herb Elliott; Alan Trengove (2017). The Golden Mile. Runners Tribe. ISBN 9780648214113.
Notes and references
- ^ a b c d "Herb Elliott Bio, Stats and Results". sports-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 18 June 2015. Retrieved 20 May 2015.
- ^ "Herb Elliott". Bring Back the Mile. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
- ^ a b "Herb Elliott". Sport Australia Hall of Fame. Retrieved 25 September 2020.
- ISBN 0909854106.
- ^ "Family Notices". The West Australian. Vol. 54, no. 16, 120. Western Australia. 26 February 1938. p. 1. Retrieved 25 February 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "Track Newsletter". Track and Field News. Vol. 6, no. 6, 21 October 1959. Retrieved 18 April 2024.
- ^ Connery, Don (10 November 1958). "The Amazing Herb Elliott". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 18 April 2024.
- ^ "Cambridge Tripos Lists". The Times. 19 June 1963, p. 15.
- ^ a b Herb Elliott at Cambridge University, Track Stats, August 2007, retrieved 20 March 2010
- ^ "News in Brief: Elliott retires from international events", The Times, 17 April 1962, p. 12.
- ^ Fortescue director profiles. Fortescue Metals Group Limited
- ^ FACTBOX-Capacity of world's largest iron ore producers. Reuters. 19 April 2010
- ^ Fortescue chief executive and Board Restructure. Fortescue Metals Group Limited. 1 June 2011
- ^ Overington, Caroline; Attwood, Alan; Perkins, Corrie (16 September 2000). "The spectacular opening of the Sydney Olympics". The Age. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 16 February 2022.
- ^ The Amazing Herb Elliott, si.com, 10 November 1958
- ^ Herb Elliott, NNDB.com; accessed 8 June 2017.
- YouTube
- ^ "Our Operations". Fortescue. Retrieved 20 June 2023.