Louisa Wall: Walker's legacy shines even 30 years on

Just like Michael Campbell's recent experience where one event can change your life, it is timely to reflect on the achievements of Kiwi middle-distance runner John Walker and his legacy to New Zealand and the world.

It was 30 years ago yesterday that Walker ran the mile in 3 minutes 49.40 seconds to break the magic 3m 50s mark for the first time in history.

Walker ran the race of his life at Gothenburg to set a standard that no one thought could be bettered.

It was his belief that he could break the sub 3.50 barrier that drove him to do so.

In 1954, Australia's top miler of the day, John Landy, ran a mile in 4m 03s on six occasions, but he said the four-minute mile "is a brick wall, I won't attempt it again".

A few weeks later, Sir Roger Bannister ran the mile in 3m 59.4s. Six weeks after that, Landy, possibly realising that the brick wall was in his mind, ran a stunning 3m 58s.

For Walker, his 1975 sub-3.50 run was the moment of truth and he went on to achieve many other great things, including his 1500m gold medal at Montreal.

He ran more than 100 sub-4m miles - the first person to reach that milestone - won three Commonwealth Games medals, was twice New Zealand's Sportsman of the Year and was voted New Zealand Athlete of the 1970s.

In Helsinki this week, we have had Nick Willis and Adrian Blincoe competing to the semifinals stage of the 1500m at the world athletics championships.

Both have a huge future in the sport and, with legends like Walker to inspire them, they will be looking for better performances and medals at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne in March.

Willis broke Walker's 30-year-old 1500m national record after running 3m 32.38s to finish sixth in the Paris Golden League meeting last month.

Previously, he had finished fourth in the 2002 world junior champs and he reached the semifinals at last year's Olympics in Athens.

* Congratulations must go to Daniel Vettori for scoring the fastest test century by a New Zealander, in the Black Caps' first test against Zimbabwe at Harare.

Vettori scored his 100 runs off just 82 balls to beat Bruce Taylor's New Zealand record. Taylor reached the ton off 83 deliveries against the West Indies at Auckland during the 1968-69 season.

Not only did Vettori succeed with the bat but he joined Sir Richard Hadlee (431 test wickets) and Chris Cairns (218 test wickets) in the 200-wicket club.

These performances will no doubt aid his bid to be selected for the world cricket team to play in the October multimillion-dollar Johnnie Walker ICC Super Series. Final squads are expected to be announced soon.

The World XI - to be selected by Sunil Gavaskar, Michael Atherton, Hadlee, Jonty Rhodes, Aravinda de Silva and Clive Lloyd - will take on Australia in three one-day matches in Melbourne at the Telstra Dome, on October 5, 7 and 9, and a six-day super test at the Sydney Cricket Ground, from October 14-19.

The Aussies have not lost a home test series since 1993 or a one-day series since 2002.

* Louisa Wall is a former New Zealand netball and rugby representative.