First time in 44 years since his double gold medal performance at Tokyo Olympic Games. 1964 Tokyo Olympics was the Games where disciples of Arthur Lydiard shone so bright. The one who shone brightest was Peter Snell who won 800m and 1500m gold medals. Dr. Snell is coming back to Japan first time in 44 years to conduct a series of clinics throughout Japan. Nobby Hashizume, the co-founder of Lydiard Foundation and the coordinator of the Snell clinic tour shares the story of Peter Snell who is known as the greatest middle distance runner in history.—this article was published in the Japanese running magazine, “Courir” March 2008 issue

In 2005 at HelsinkIn 2005 at Helsinki World Track & Field Championships, Bahrain’s Rashid Ramzi became the first athlete to win “classic double” in middle distance running, 800m-1500m double. Since the beginning of IAAF T&F World Championships in 1983, this was the first time this feat was accomplished. In the 100+ years of Olympic history, there had been only 5 runners who had done this classic double. After the World War II, there had been only one; and that was New Zealand’s Peter Snell in 1964 at Tokyo. Snell is also one of only two athletes who repeated the Olympic title in 800m event.

Establishing the Perfect Middle Distance
Running Style by Developing Stamina:
Peter Snell was a protégé of the late Arthur Lydiard and trained based on what is fondly known as the “Lydiardism”. When you look at the background of training for middle distance events, back in those days in the late 1950s and early 1960s, the mainstream training method was intervals.