A proud moment for all of Ireland in 1964

IN October 1964, a young Mid-Louth sprinter, Noel Carroll, was preparing to compete at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan.

He had already ran a sub-four-minute mile and, while attending college in the USA, was the anchor for his team, the Villanova Wildcats, which broke the 4 x 880 yard relay World Record in 1964. He had also set the European Indoor record for the 880 yards by October that year.

On the 14th October, the first heats of the Mens 800 metres took place at the Olympic Stadium. Forty-seven athletes from 32 nations competed in the event. The top four runners in each of the 6 heats advanced. He got to the the starting line in the 5th heat of Round 1. Derek George McLeane had already competed for Ireland in the 3rd heat and qualified for the semi-finals in 3rd place, with a time of 1:49.9 minutes. Noel’s heat saw him finish in 5th position, with a time of 1:51.1.

Unfortunate not to advance, he would have watched the competition as it went on over the next two days. The event culminated with the final on the 16th, when Peter Snell of New Zealand took gold in a time of 1:45.1. This set a new Olympic Record, with no fewer than 4 of the 8 competitors breaking the Olympic record time in the final alone. The record had just been set in the semi - finals the previous day by two athletes who crossed the finish line together, with the time of 1:45.1.

The speeds of the competitors increased as they progressed through the heats, semi’s and to the final, with Peter Snell’s semi-final time being 1:46.9, meaning he shaved 1.8 seconds off his time within 24 hours. The current Olympic and World record holder is David Rudisha of Kenya, who set a time of 1:40.91 in London 2012. Peter Snell still holds the Oceania record for the 800 metres, with a personal best of 1:44.3. Noel Carroll set his personal best of 1:46.6 in 1968.