Sideline Sid Sports correspondent & historian www.sunlive.co.nz

Debate continues on whether the 2021 Olympic Games should/will take place as the clock ticks down to July 23 start date.

The XXX11 Olympiad will be the first time that the games have returned to Japan since the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.

The 1964 Olympic Summer games was a watershed for New Zealand Olympic participation, winning more medals than any previous games with three gold medals and two bronze.

The 1964 Olympiad was the zenith of the career of arguably our countries greatest sportsman in (Sir) Peter Snell.

During his time in the limelight, Peter Snell won three Olympic gold medals, two British Empire and Commonwealth Games gold medals and set at least six world records.

Trained by legendary athletic coach Arthur Lydiard, Snell was a virtual unknown when he won the 800m at the 1960 Rome Olympic Games.

He became an overnight celebrity in New Zealand, and set out on a course which saw him become one of the most recognised athletes on the planet.

Snell endured a marathon buildup in 1964, with the preliminary races of both the 800m and 1500m events, before winning the 800m gold medal for the second successive time.

The New Zealand runner then set out to become the first man to win the golden double of the 800m and 1500, since 1920.

Joining Snell in the 1500 metres was fellow Kiwi John Davies, who had scrapped into the glamour event after finishing third in his semi-final.

Peter Snell's race didn't go as planned, with the French pacemaker dropping out after the first lap.

John Davies seized the initiative and grabbed the lead with Snell in close attendance.

Snell made his move in the back straight as the finish line beckoned and dashed clear, passing the Polish runner and Davies, to win by 15 metres.

Davies was unlucky not to win silver, being given the same time as Josef Odlozil from Czechoslovakia, with the Czech adjudged to have beaten Davies by a whisker.

It was an outstanding day for New Zealand, with two individual Kiwi's standing on the Olympic podium for the first time.

The years between Peter Snell's Olympic triumphs were dominated by six world records, including the four x one mile world record, with fellow New Zealand runners (Sir) Murray Halberg, Barry Magee and Gary Philpott.

However, January 21, 1962, will be forever imbedded in New Zealand sporting history, when Peter Snell went after and broke Australian Herb Elliott's (one) mile world record in Wanganui.

Making Snell's mile record attempt even more daunting, was making the mile record attempt on the 353m grass track at Cook Gardens in the river city.

When the starters gun fired, the runners followed pacemaker Barry Cossar, who led then to the half mile mark in the scheduled two-minutes flat.

Well credentialed English runner Bruce Tulloch took the lead entering the last lap, before Snell burst past him, to stop the clock at the new world record of 3m 54.4 seconds.

Snell was twice named New Zealand Sportsman of the Year (1960 and 1964), and in 2000 he was named New Zealand's Sports Champion of the 20th Century.

Peter Snell retired from competitive running in 1965 and moved to the United States in the 1970s.