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Barry Magee

 

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Barry Magee


 
 

Arthur Barrington ("Barry") Magee (born January 6, 1934 in New Plymouth, New Zealand) was a New ZealandNew Zealand Overview

New Zealand is a country in the south-western Pacific Ocean consisting of two large islands and many much smaller islands, m...
er athlete who mainly competed in the marathonMarathon

The marathon is a long-distance road running event of 42.195 km . ...
.

He competed for New Zealand in the men's marathon at the 1960 Summer Olympics1960 Summer Olympics

The 1960 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad, were held in 1960 in Rome, Italy....
 held in RomeRome

Rome is the capital of Italy and of its region, called Latium....
, ItalyItaly

Italy, officially the Italian Republic , is a Southern European country....
, where he won the bronze medal. Four years later in TokyoTokyo Overview

listen is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan and is the location of its capital....
 he ended up in 23rd place.

Magee was one of the large group of athletes that New Zealand coach Arthur LydiardArthur Lydiard Overview

Arthur Leslie Lydiard, ONZ, OBE, was a New Zealand runner and athletics coach....
 used to revolutionise how the world trained for all sports. At the 1960 Olympic Games Lydiard's pupils and Magee's training partners, Murray HalbergMurray Halberg

Sir Murray Gordon Halberg is a former New Zealand middle distance runner....
 and Peter SnellPeter Snell

Peter George Snell, DCNZM, OBE is a New Zealand former athlete....
 won gold medals over 5000m and 800m within one hour. Magee's bronze in the marathon confirmed Lydiard's training methods.

Magee's run in Rome made him the fastest white marathon runner of all time to that moment. He went on to win many major international races, including Japan's prestigious Fukuoka MarathonFukuoka Marathon

The Fukuoka marathon, held in Fukuoka, is a prominent international marathon race started in 1947....
. But Magee was much more than a marathon runner; he also ran the world's second fastest times over 3mile and 6mile and was part of New Zealand's 4x1mile world record breaking relay team in 1961.

Magee always attributed his success to Lydiard, who had become something of a father figure after Magee's own father died in the same year that Lydiard started coaching him. After retiring from international competition Magee coached several top runners himself.

He is now a proud coach at Auckland City Athletics (ACA) coaching numerous N.Z. Champions

He lives in Auckland, New Zealand.

Quotes

“Anyone can run 20 miles. It's the next six that count.”