________________
The Brave Hearts
may recall that the same Murray was asked to retire from the Rugby team just six years back. He took part in the 1500 metres race in the Olympics at Melbourne and ranked eleventh. He was not disappointed by his performance. That is because his coach Lydiard used to say that Murray was being trained for the 1960 Olympic Games which required training for a long time and only then could one have any faith in their capacity to win.
In 1958, Murray Halberg participated in the 5000 metre race and secured a gold medal in it. Before that he had already won the Auckland (N.Z.) Junior 380 yards title way back in 1950. But neither the Auckland race nor the commonwealth games can be compared with those of the world Olympic class. For that very rigorous training and equipment were required. Murray and Lydiard both started devoting themselves to the Olympics. Their strategy was that when only the last lap remained, the runner should suddenly start running as fast as possible, using one's reserve capacity to the full. They knew that the other runners used their reserve capacity only at that time.
During the 5000 metre race, Murray was the last runner at the end of 1000 metres, he was fifth at the end of 2000 metres and when the last three laps remained, he started running very fast, as if the 'finishing line' was very close. Seeing Murray run so fast, other competitors was greatly perplexed. He completed that lap in 61.1 seconds. Murray was twenty metres ahead of the others who were following him. Godotzki of East Germany and Kazimierz Zimny of Poland, both increased their pace but could not overtake Murray. When the last lap was still to be covered, Murray Halberg felt very tired. His head started rolling and every new step was increasing his fatigue. Yet, to keep his rivals behind, Murray made the last
136
