Sir Peter Snell, who passed away on Saturday at the age of 80, has been lauded as New Zealand's greatest athlete by one of Northland's athletics legends. Photo / File
Sir Peter Snell, who passed away on Saturday at the age of 80, has been lauded as New Zealand's greatest athlete by one of Northland's athletics legends. Photo / File
Northland athletics stalwart Ian Babe says New Zealand has lost its greatest ever athlete with the passing of Sir Peter Snell on Saturday.
Snell, a three-time Olympic Games gold medalist, passed away peacefully in his sleep at the age of 80 in his adopted hometown of Dallas, Texas.
The middle-distance legend shot to stardom at the 1960 Olympics in Rome with gold in the 800 metres, before he won gold in the 800m and 1500m at the Tokyo Olympics four years later - the only male to win the double at the same Olympics since 1920.
"Without a doubt, he is our greatest ever athlete in my opinion," Babe said.
Northland running stalwart Ian Babe (pictured) can clearly remember the first and only time he ran against the late Sir Peter Snell, who passed away on the weekend. Photo / File
A running icon in his own right, Babe, 83, had coached a number of athletes to national and international glory. His first run-in with Snell was in the New Zealand track and field championship 800m final in 1964, before Snell's double-gold in Tokyo.
At the time, Babe was a recent convert to middle-distance running, but said Snell's reputation preceded him and it wasn't hard to see why.
"I'll always remember, it looked as if [Snell] needed to go to the islands and get a tan because he was really quite pale, that was my impression of him," Babe said with a laugh.
"In the final, he just dominated, he did what he wanted really and most of his races were like that, he was just so dominant."
Sir Peter Snell was renowned for his strength and conditioning. Photo / File
Babe never had the chance to race Snell again but was able to watch an exhibition run from Snell in Whangārei during a tour following his double-gold effort in 1964.
Babe, a former Athletics NZ president, said he was shocked to see how strong Snell was on the track but soon came to know the man's softer side.
"It was absolutely mind-boggling, just to see the sheer power of this young man and he had a different build, he was quite muscular and stocky [in comparison to other runners].
"I remember him coming up and shaking my hand, I didn't really know him at all but he came across as a really quiet, modest and humble guy, and later on I realised he was a real gentleman as well."
Babe (right) is confident Sir Peter Snell is New Zealand's greatest ever athlete. Photo / File
Much of Snell's success was built in tandem with famed coach Arthur Lydiard, who coached many iconic New Zealand athletes including Murray Halberg and Barry Magee.
Lydiard's training methods, which were not widely known at the time, valued building a strong endurance base. Babe said Lydiard's techniques could still be seen in how athletes were trained today.
Sir Peter Snell after donating his Olympic medals to Te Papa, Wellington in 2017. Photo / File
"We still use those principles but there are other things have happened in the last 30-40 years in conditioning that you can bring in which is important," he said.
"At the time we didn't realise it, but it was a world-class conditioning system and since then we've tweaked it and made it better which is why people are running faster."
Babe, who was currently coaching young Northland middle-distance prodigy Bella Earl, said he learned a great deal from watching Snell and still took inspiration from him to this day.
"One of the things [Snell] said was, 'to reach the highest level, you have to have a deep passion', and I can remember him saying, 'gather around you the best possible people to help you', that was a theme that I could really resonate with."
Even today, Babe incorporates some of Snell's training techniques when working with young Northland runner, Bella Earl (right). Photo / File
