An Australian sporting legend dies

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An Australian sporting legend passed away two days ago (24th) at the age of 91. John Landy was a middle-distance runner and the second man to break the 4-minute mile. England’s Roger Bannister was the first. However, Landy is probably remembered more for his great act of sportsmanship in the Australian Mile Championship at Melbourne's Olympic Park in 1956. With a lap and half to go, a runner clipped the heels of Ron Clarke, causing him to fall. Landy leapt over Clarke but his spikes grazed Clarke’s shoulder. He stopped and turned back, helping Clarke to his feet before resuming the race and going on to win. This effort earned him a place on the Australian Olympic team. Roger Bannister broke the four-minute mile at Oxford in May 1954, recording a time of 3 minutes 59.4 seconds. Within a matter of weeks, Landy recorded 3:57.9. The two met at the 1954 Empire Games in Vancouver where the Englishman won. Bannister retired in 1955 and Landy placed third in the 1500m at the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games. Landy later worked as an agricultural scientist and became Governor of Victoria in 2001. He wrote several books on natural history and his butterfly collection of around 10,000 specimens was donated to the Australian National Museum in 2017. Prior to his death, Landy was one of Australia’s Living Treasures. I guess he is now one of its dead ones. No offence intended. Photo of Landy helping Clarke to his feet courtesy of SuperJew, CC BY-SA 4.0 < via Wikimedia Commons