1960, Peter Snell and Murray Halberg: Olympic golden hour

Peter Snell won the 800m gold at the Rome Olympics. (NZ Herald Archive)

At the Rome Olympic Games, in the space of one golden hour, Peter Snell won the 800m final and Murray Halberg the 5000m. They are our New Zealanders of the Year for 1960.

"A fashionable air of detachment toward the Olympic Games among a section of New Zealanders has been jolted," commented the Herald at the time.

"Two victories in an hour in major track events have suffused the country with a golden glow of pride."

The glow has lasted.

There have been many great Olympic moments for New Zealand through the years but in 2012, senior Herald sports writers David Leggat and Dylan Cleaver chose this as the greatest.

"They arrived in Rome for the 1960 Olympics a contrasting pair. One a relatively unknown 21-year-old; the other 27 and in his prime," they wrote.

"In the space of an hour . . . Peter Snell and Murray Halberg blazed New Zealand's name in capitals across the Olympic landscape and achieved everlasting athletics fame."

From the Herald archives:
'20 NZ Olympic moments: No. 1, Snell, Halberg's golden double', NZ Herald online, 27 July 2012

Further reading:
Biography of Murray Halberg, Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand

Further viewing:
On The Run documentary, NZ On Screen, 1979