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 TRIPLE OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALLIST, PETER SNELL, WENT ON TO WIN…
What may have been his toughest race of all when he was voted New Zealand 'Sports Champion of the Century'.
A Halberg Trust initiative, the 'Sports Champion of the Century' was announced at the presentation of the 1999 ALAC Sports Awards of New Zealand dinner in Auckland on 17 February, 2000.
The competition to determine New Zealand's outstanding sporting achiever of the 20th Century was a lengthy process. It involved first selecting 10 decade winners, and from them, deciding the ultimate champion. The decade winners and the final choice was determined by a Centennial Academy of distinguished sporting historians and authors, with the public also given the chance to record their decade votes each month.
In the end Snell, a two-time winner of the New Zealand 'Sportsman of the Year' title who won the 800m gold medal at the 1960 Olympics in Rome, and the 800–1500m double four years later in Tokyo, headed off a star-studded field of nine other decade winners.
 While Snell's athletic career at the highest level was brief, covering a five-year spell from late 1959 to 1965, during which time he won three Olympic and two Commonwealth Games gold medals, and broke seven world indoor and outdoor records from 800m through to the mile, he was a popular choice for the award.
It is interesting to note that Snell himself is these days just as proud of his subsequent academic achievements which he confesses his masters at his old school, Mt Albert Grammar, probably felt were beyond him. After retiring from athletics, Snell worked for the Rothmans Sports Foundation until 1971 when he left New Zealand for the USA to further his education.
After a year of sabbatical study at Loughborough University of Technology, he went on to the University of California, at Davis where he gained a Bachelor of Science in Human Performance. From there he went on to gain a PhD in Exercise Physiology at Washington State University, Pullman.
He moved to Dallas in 1981 joining the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center as a research fellow where he has remained. Currently he holds the position of Assistant Professor, Department of Internal Medicine and is also Director of their Human Performance Center. A member of the American College of Sports Medicine, Snell was honoured in 1999 as an Inaugural Inductee, International Scholar, into the Athlete Hall of Fame, University of Rhode Island.
Peter Snell was awarded the DCNZM for services to sport in the New Year Honours 2002 List.
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