Born Perth, W.A.
25 February, 1938
One of the world’s greatest-ever middle-distance-runners, Herb Elliott brought his career to a magnificent climax when he won the 1500m gold medal at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome.
He was only 22 years of age when he won the final by a massive 20 metres in the world record time of 3min 35.6 sec, leading for the last 1 1/4 laps.
Elliott’s time was 0.4sec faster than the world record he had set two years earlier and was to remain unbroken until 1967.
Elliott established a reputation for excellence as a middle-distance runner when a student at Aquinas College between 1953 and 1955.
After the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne, during which Elliott was inspired by Russian Vladmir Kuts, he remained in Victoria and came under the influence of coach Percy Cerutty.
Elliott quickly developed into a world-class performer. Early in 1957 he set world junior records for one, two and three miles.
The first of his 17 sub-four-minute miles (3.59.9) was recorded on January 28, 1958, when he was 28 days short of his 20th birthday.
The fastest mile of Elliott’s career was set in Dublin in 1958 when he was timed at 3 min 54.5sec. Shortly before that he had won the 880yds and mile at the Empire Games in Cardiff.
But his burning ambition had always been to win the Olympic 1500m. Once he had achieved that objective, he saw no point in continuing his international track and field career.
Many honours, including the 1958 Helms Award, came his way and at the 1987 world championships in Rome he was voted the greatest 1500m runner of the past 75 years.