| Ron Clarke was considered a junior prodigy in Australia during the mid 1950s. He held the World Junior Record for the Mile at the time of the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games and was chosen to light the Olympic torch.
After this honour, Clarke lost motivation and retired from athletics for a number of years, but he returned to the sport in the early 1960s and began to improve his times at middle and long distances.
Clarke was one of the major stars of world athletics during the decade, running an amazing sequence of World Record performances.
Despite his record-breaking achievements, Clarke could never win Gold at an Olympic or Commonwealth Games. Emil Zatopek - the legendary star of the 1948 and 1952 Olympic Games thought that this was so unfair that he gave Clarke one of his own Gold Medals. |
Australia