Athletics: Coaching legend's story a long time coming

For a man whose outstanding talent was making people run really fast, legendary athletics coach Arthur Lydiard sure does things slowly.

On Wednesday, a day after his 87th birthday, he released a long-overdue biography - Arthur Lydiard: Master Coach, by Auckland author Garth Gilmour.

In an era when garden variety All Blacks put out books when their gear is still warm, it is odd a man who guided New Zealand athletes to six Olympic medals waited so long.

"I probably thought I would live longer; you don't know about these things," said Lydiard.

It is 44 years since Lydiard coached Peter Snell (800m) and Murray Halberg (5000m) to gold medals on the same glorious afternoon at the Rome Olympics.

Lydiard-coached Barry Magee won a marathon bronze at Rome.

In Tokyo in 1964, Snell took the 800m-1500m double and John Davies grabbed a bronze in the 1500m.

As a coach Lydiard always urged patience, saying his method of long, slow runs topped off with fast work as fine-tuning took years to bring results.

He walked the talk in his own life.

He was 32 when he ran for New Zealand at the Empire Games, 80 when he married for the third time, and was made an Athletics New Zealand life member only last year.

It took Gilmour 20 years of nagging to get Lydiard to agree to the book. The pair have collaborated on many books since 1962.

A series of strokes may have slowed Lydiard enough to prompt a change of heart.

"I think he was feeling mortal, perhaps," Gilmour said.

"I started about 20 years ago, but he kept saying, 'No, no, no, not now'. He finally rang up one day and said, 'I want to do it'."

Reliant on a walker and unable to charge off on his 6am run as he did well into his 80s, Lydiard now makes do with working out on a rowing machine in his East Auckland home.

"Frustration is a problem. You want to do the things that you used to and you can't any more," said Lydiard, who holds the country's top honour, membership of the Order of New Zealand.

A founder of the worldwide craze of jogging for health and fitness, he is still in demand overseas. "I had two calls from America yesterday from coaches wanting me to go there."

He plans to go on a lecture tour to the United States in November. Gilmour will probably accompany him as his minder.

Years after confidently predicting golds for Snell and Halberg in Rome, Lydiard reveals he was never as confident as he made out.

"When it came right, well, I was very happy about that because when people put their faith in you and it turns out okay it's very rewarding."

In the days of amateurism, six Olympic medals did not assure Lydiard of a financially viable coaching career in New Zealand.

On the outer in his own country, he was forced in the 1960s to work in Mexico, Turkey, Venezuela and Finland, where he was honoured with the White Star, the country's highest award.

Coaching exile cost him his marriage, after his first wife found the loneliness and language difficulties unbearable.

Lydiard still blames New Zealand athletics officials "to a degree" for the break-up.

"I had kids to keep, and it wasn't easy. Financially I wasn't in a very good position."

Lydiard is looking forward to the Athens Olympic Games, in which New Zealand is likely to have rising stars in 1500m runner Nick Willis and Kimberley Smith in the 5000m.

Lydiard, however, feels Athens could be one Olympic Games too soon for Willis, who is only 21. Halberg failed in Melbourne in 1956, then struck gold in Rome.

"Only 10 per cent of people perform near their best or better at the Olympics. They usually get overawed and don't perform so well."

Lydiard feels New Zealand still has the potential to turn out good distance runners, provided they are well coached.

Gilmour said he had written hundreds and thousands of words about Lydiard, "but I've never written the few I would like to write - 'Arthur Lydiard appointed national conditioning coach for New Zealand'."

New Zealand athletics totally wasted Lydiard "for all the wrong reasons", Gilmour said. "Jealousy mainly, a resentment of the fact that he did not join the inner circle - because he couldn't tolerate it.

"We would have had champions on the Olympic dais every four years since 1960 if we had used him."

The Lydiard influence will be seen on the water in Athens. World champion canoeist Ben Fouhy and K2 team-mate Steven Ferguson are trained along his lines.

Gilmour, a "boozy journalist who smoked a great deal" when he met Lydiard, is dedicated to keeping the Lydiard coaching system alive.

"Arthur would be the greatest living New Zealander in terms of his influence on others, and people might come to recognise it in time."

- NZPA