I first watched John Landy as a lad growing up in Geelong in the 1940s and ’50s.
Indeed, when about 12 years old, and after playing under 15 football for the North Geelong Football Club, I watched him run with the Geelong Guild at Kardinia Park during half-time when the Mighty Cats were playing.
I was one of many in the crowd at the southern end of the ground who tossed coins into a blanket carried by John and other Guild runners. So, I can now claim to have assisted him getting to the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki.
There will be many tributes, anecdotes and stories recalling and celebrating many of the highlights of his eclectic life. My contribution is a vignette related to the opening ceremony of the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games.
Since moving to Queensland and living in Noosa, I have had opportunities to become reacquainted with John. As an Olympic historian at the University of Queensland, I was invited by the National Library of Australia (NLA) to interview John along with other Olympians and prominent athletes, coaches, and sport administrators. It was during that interview in his home in Melbourne in April 2008 that I gleaned much about this extraordinary person.
Although he still held the world-record for the Mile, Landy was coming out of winter-training and with little international competition, John said he accepted the invitation to read the Olympic Oath on behalf of all athletes. He attended a rehearsal at the MCG – the Olympic Stadium for the periods November 22- December 8.
John related in our interview: “This fellow Bill Holt was the technical manager for the Games, and he said, ‘This is what you’ve got to do; there it is’ and handed me a typewritten sheet. ‘And anyway, we will put it in large type and stick it with four drawing pins on the lectern. You will have no problem after – the Duke of Edinburgh or whoever speaks, and you will be able to get up there and away you go’.
“Fortunately, I had copied it out from the typed copy and put it in [John points to his top pocket] … and when I got up to read the Oath, there was nothing [on the lectern] at all so I took it out and read it.
“Well, you think that is the end of story, but it isn’t’ because the Oath that they gave me was not the Oath they put on the program. And Harry Gordon wrote it up. He said I got so nervous I made it up.”
Yes, many of the 100,000-plus spectators had received the official program as they entered the stadium of the XXV Olympiad and were mystified because what John Landy should have been reading was:
“We swear that we will take part in the Olympic Games in loyal competition, respecting the regulations which govern them, and desirous of participating in them in the true spirit of sportmanship, for the honour of our country and for the glory of sport”.[Olympic Games Melbourne 1956 Opening Ceremony, Main Stadium (Melbourne Cricket Ground), Thursday November 22 1956, p.14]
John Landy, the humble gentleman who months earlier had shown great sportsmanship when he stopped and ensured Ron Clarke was uninjured during the Olympic trials, kept this story to himself for many years. Personally, I am glad I read ‘his’ version’!
In addition to the accompanying photographs, the John Landy interview link is: nla.gov.au/nla.cat/435399
John’s piece of paper with his handwritten text is on display at the National Museum of Sport at the MCG.
