In the eight days leading up to the Olympic 1500-m final Snell had already run five races: the heats, semi-final and final of the 800 m – in which he won gold – and the heats and semi-final of the 1500 m. Joining him in the 1500-m final was Kiwi teammate John Davies, who just made it through his semi-final, placing third. Snell’s time of 3 minutes 38.1 seconds was 2.5 seconds outside the world record held by the previous Olympic champion, Australian Herb Elliott. Following the race Elliott’s coach, Percy Cerutty, criticised Snell for not trying to ‘smash the wo He trained as a doctor, specialising in exercise physiology, and became an Associate Professor at the Southwestern Medical Centre, University of Texas. He remains the only man since 1920 to have won the 800 m and the 1500 m at the same Olympic Games. Three women have performed this double since a 1500-m race was added to their Olympic programme in 1972: Tatyana Kazankina of the Soviet Union at Montreal in 1976, Russian Svetlana Masterkova at Atlanta in 1996, and Great Britain’s Kelly Holmes at Athens in 2004.