I was wondering about Mr. Walker tonight as the Beijing Olympics close as he was the most inspirational athlete I followed as a youth in the 1970's. He was a gracious winner and true sportsman. So great to find this site and get an update. John was an absolute hero to me and my inspiration to start running in my teens. 35 years later I am still at it thanks to Mr. Walker.
Sure great to hear him speak about Montreal.I remember watching the race live on the Tele. in Blenheim N.Z. all those years ago. He use to train a fair bit in Blenheim.I was fortunate enough to see him run In ChCh in '74 and Briso in '82. There was many other great kiwi runners at the time Quax, John & Rod Dixon. But John with that long flowing hair was the best. Who will ever forget the 3 49.4 Man.
I was a high school distance runner when John Walker was in his prime. He was the purest runner ever. His form, his speed and his work ethic made him the kind of runner to look up to. I always enjoyed watching him run. Perfection! Thanks John and God Speed, I hope life is treating you well.
Big John ... great to see him and hear what he has to say about the T&F and the mile event and how he engaged himself as "best in the world" back in the 70's ... a true competitor anytime he raced at any distance!
His Parkinson's Disease seems to be under control very well ... glad to see that!
i live in Australia and what a wonderful thrill to watch my brother John in this interview and read all the lovely comments about him. It still gives me goosebumps after all these years to see him roar down that track. Haven't seen anyone like him since. Thankyou Mark
Great stuff. John Walker was an amazing runner. I had the pleasure to watch him race a few times. Afriend of mine ran against him, Quax and Dixon in 79 in NZ.
The nz guys were always tough to race against. Walker
was the best. Cheers
What an phenomenal runner he was! Thanks for posting this, Mark. On another note, he says (as best as I can hear) that he ran 50.1 over the last 400 of his 1500 gold medal performance at the 1976 Olympics. Am I hearing that correctly? If so, I wonder where he gets that number? I went to youtube.com (type in "john walker 1500" and you'll get there) and it looks like he went through the 1100 in just under 2:47 (2:46.9?) and won it with a low 3:39. That's 52 point. But this is John Walker recounting his own win, so I'd give him the benefit of the doubt, and he rattles off the first 2 splits (62, 2:01) accurately, so I would expect him to know what he finished in. Thoughts?
Good interview with John Walker. He is looking quite good. Yes he was amazing and dictated the terms of his Gold medal like the Champion he is. Always had great respect for him. He made his initial break through at the Tauranga Twilight Athletics Meeting which is held 1st January each year(except this one as the grass track is being replaced with a Mondo track) when he asked if he could run against Dick Quax in the 800 metres. He beat Dick that night and a great friendship and rivalry was born, both becoming Olympic medalists. When John Walkar ran at the Twilight the crowds rolled in. He also ran under four minutes for the mile at the Twilight on grass. He wore shoes though.
No I am not the 400m Hurdles WR holder. Who can forget John Walker, tan and fit, going full speed with his long hair flying. BTW, John Walker owns Stirrups Equestrian store, at http://www.stirrups.co.nz/index.php, order some stuff through him. There is a lot about John Walker in Steve Scott's book. Here is my John Walker story. In 1976 I took a bus from LA to Montreal and watched John win the 1500m. In September 2006 30 years later I find myself in Auckland, NZ. I call him up (he's in the phone book, so is Edmund Hillary) and mention the name of my buddy Don Franken, who's Dad Al put on the Sunkist and L.A. Indoor Invitationals that Walker won many times. He met me at his Stirrups Equestrian store and we talked running for 30 minutes. He said not too many running fans visit him at his store. There are no track pictures in his equestrian store. He told me at his home he has no running pictures except for one with Ray Flynn. The Kiwis are not boastful. He is a member of the local city government. He has been fighting a Parkinsons type disease for many years. He and Steve Scott traveled together quite a bit in Europe and in NZ. That's about it good to see and hear from him thanks.
Great Interview - his bio is next up on my reading list - follows the legacy of Lovelock, Halberg, Snell. thanks Mark for the great work and posting this.
John Walker, was not only a superb runner ,but a wonderful person. He was living in Reading,Pa during the indoor season. I called hime one day to run,after the area had a 9" snow storm. I met him at a golf course and we took off in the snow-his first running in the snow! We started off with a mile long hill, and he was all over the place and the snow presented me with little problems because I ran frequently in the snow. On top of the hill he said he had a problem and had to run into the field to releave himself. I said I would just keep running easy-as soon as he started into the field I began my sprint which lasted for about 600meters-I turned as saw him starting out again at full speed. When he caught me , he said,"You little _ _ _ _. WE laughed the rest of the run-what a day-what a run. Next day (WED) he ran 6x200 on a crappy high school track(THURS),Friday was a press conference in NYC, and Sat was the Milrose Games in which he ran 3.58 for a close 4th place. Some kind of guy some kind of runner...............
Mark, you forgot to ask him about his race against Quenton Cassidy. Get his view on how the race went down.
Awesome to hear about the last 150 of the Olypmic race. The noise is so great, you can't hear anything or anyone else.
unfortunately internet in NZ is massively expensive and very slow compared to other developed nations. I knew this was going to happen, probably should have warned Mark in advance.
This is a great coup for you, Mark. Everybody's been wondering about John Walker for years. Huge congratulations on getting this interview. He's actually in a lot better shape than stories had led us to believe.
You need one of those devices that allows you to have wireless anywhere on your computer for it just hooks you up to a satallite, I know it would cost a bit at first but it could save you quite a bit in the long run..
Olympic Champion and former World Record Holder of the Mile and the 2,000 meters, Kiwi John Walker talks about how he started running and what seperates the greats from the rest.
The interview was short bc I had to run to the airport and was short n time. I kind of just showed up at his work after i talked him 30 mins before on the phone. I would of put up more but I have been traveling for the last couple of days and internet has been hard to come by. When I do find internet it is really expensive and slow. Videos that would normally take a couple mins at home are taking two hours to upload. I'm usually not able to be at a place for two hours at a time becuase I am gathering a bunch of footage for our up coming series and I am trying to cram a ton in. I am getting some cool footage and excited to show y'all.
later,
Mark January 8, 2008
Travel with Mark as he goes from Chicago - LA - Melbourne, Australia - Auckland, New Zealand - Perth, Australia - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - Sweden, Stockholm - Chicago - Austin where he gets to meet the best minds in track and field and running around the world
Olympic Gold
His Parkinson's Disease seems to be under control very well ... glad to see that!
do something about or else I'll do nothing.
The nz guys were always tough to race against. Walker
was the best. Cheers
Awesome to hear about the last 150 of the Olypmic race. The noise is so great, you can't hear anything or anyone else.
Walker looks like he's still in shape, nice to see.