Athletics: Former champions still cherish the good times

By TERRY MADDAFORD

With Herb Elliott and Betty Cuthbert it is very much "what you see, is what you get". No regrets, not much looking back.

Forty-four years after stepping off the track for the last time - as a 22-year-old, with the Rome Olympics 1500m gold medal around his neck - Elliott maintains it was the right decision.

"Track and field took five years of my life," Elliott said in Auckland yesterday. "I had no regrets. I had had enough."

Coincidently, Elliott first ventured into athletics in 1956 around the time Cuthbert was being crowned the Golden Girl of the Melbourne Olympics.

Their paths crossed many times over the years. They were a chapter in their lives they can recall with real satisfaction.

Two down-to-earth champions - in every sense of the word. Nothing pretentious, just obvious, and deserved, pleasure in what they achieved.

Definitely no qualms with their collective decisions to step down from the top of an Olympic dais into retirement. Between them, the two Perth-based Australians won five Olympic gold medals, set countless world records, and became institutions in Australian sport.

In Auckland as special guests for the Peter Snell Institute of Sport gala dinner on Thursday night, they reminisced about their Olympic glories.

Yet, Cuthbert admitted yesterday: "I don't remember Peter Snell in Tokyo."

Elliott does, however, have vivid memories of the man who went on to break his world mile record.

"I saw Peter win the 800m in Rome," Elliott said. "I was utterly amazed with his power and strength. He and [Cuban] Alberto Juantorena [the 400m/800m gold medallist in 1976 in Montreal] were the strongest runners I ever saw.

"I have the highest respect for Peter Snell. That's why I'm here."

Cuthbert, as an 18-year-old, won three gold medals in Melbourne in 1956 after initially saving to buy a ticket to watch the Games.

She says the greatest satisfaction came in the last of her three victories when she ran the anchor leg of the 4x100m relay after winning the 100m/200m sprint double.

She went to Rome four years later, but was forced out early with a hamstring injury.

Cuthbert called it quits but, as a devout Christian, claims she was later called back to her sport.

"It was so loud and clear. The women's 400m was going to be run for the first time in Tokyo [in 1964].

"I had always loved running longer distances, so I went for it."

History shows the victory was to be her last race.

"It was the only perfect race I have ever run. I knew what I had to do. I never ran again."

They were halcyon days in Australian athletics.

Elliott has just chaired a steering committee looking at the sport.

"We are ranked 21st in the world [in athletics]. It should be eighth or ninth. We received 140 written submissions and held 75 interviews in making our report," he said.

What recommendations?

"That's confidential." But he did admit "something had to be done".

"The elite performances had dropped off, the numbers of athletes and coaches had decreased and there was ongoing dissatisfaction between the competitors and officials."

Elliott was the last Australian male to run with the Games torch - into the stadium at the Sydney Olympics.

Wheelchair-bound Cuthbert - she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1969 - assisted by Raelene Boyle, and with fellow Christian Shane Gould, passed the torch to Cathy Freeman, who lit the Olympic flame.