By Terry Maddaford
Jeff Julian, a double Olympian and one of New Zealand's best marathon runners, is in jail awaiting sentence after pleading guilty to fraud charges involving transactions of more than $2 million.
Charged with conspiring to defraud American Express and Diners Club International, 64-year-old Julian will be sentenced next month. He faces up to five years in prison.
In 1964, Julian was given a hero's welcome when he arrived in Tokyo for the Olympics.
The Japanese media largely ignored defending Olympic champions Peter Snell and Murray Halberg, concentrating instead on Julian, who a year earlier had won the pre-Olympic marathon in a country where marathon running was regarded as the ultimate athletic challenge.
"King Jeff" could not repeat his earlier effort, finishing 29th at the Olympics.
Julian, who was often seen running from his Mt Eden home to work - he was a bank officer in the city and later at Auckland Airport - covered amazing distances while being trained by coaching great Arthur Lydiard.
He once estimated that between 1954 and 1970, he ran about 100,000km. In one week's training he clocked 400km.
Disappointed at not being selected for the 1968 Olympics after competing at the previous two games, Julian lived in London for more than a year in the early 1970s.
He came home to make an unsuccessful bid for selection to the 1972 Olympic team.
The summary sheet for the "conspiracy to defraud" charge showed that between May 1996 and April 1998, Julian made 198 transactions involving $2,109,655.
American Express said its losses amounted to $417,784, and Diners Club said it lost $9115.
Julian, who had not previously appeared in court, was committed for trial but pleaded guilty at a hearing this month.
His co-accused, who has been granted name suppression, will reappear in court the day before Julian is sentenced.
Jail shame for long-distance hero
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