Herb Elliott

Never beaten over 1500m/mile, 1960 Olympic champion, WR holder.

Herb Elliott never lost a race at 1500m or the mile as a senior athlete — 36 wins over the distance, 17 of them under four minutes — retiring undefeated at 23 in a middle-distance career whose record of absolute invincibility across all senior competition no international runner has matched before or since.. The partnership produced arguably the greatest middle-distance career in athletics history. In August 1958, Elliott smashed the world mile record by 2.7 seconds at Dublin's Santry Stadium, clocking 3:54.5 and dragging five runners under four minutes in the process. Later that month he broke the 1500m world record in Gothenburg with 3:36.0. He also won the mile and 880 yards double at the 1958 Commonwealth Games in Cardiff. Elliott's crowning achievement came at the 1960 Rome Olympics, where he won the 1500m gold medal in a new world record of 3:35.6, finishing 2.6 seconds ahead of runner-up Michel Jazy of France — a margin so decisive that his time would have won seven of the nine Olympic 1500m finals held in the following decades. Across his short but unbeaten career from 1957 to 1961, Elliott ran 36 wins over the mile, 17 of them under four minutes, and never lost a race at 1500m or the mile as a senior athlete — a feat unmatched by any international runner before or since. He retired from competition still undefeated and later became chairman of a major mining company.

Devastating closing kick built on brutal sand-dune training

Widely regarded as the greatest middle-distance runner of his era

• 1960 Olympic gold 1500m (WR)