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John George Walker (born January 12 , 1952 in Papakura ) is a former Middle Distance Runner from New Zealand . Walker is best known for winning the Olympic Games 1500 meters in Montreal 1976 . This achievement came during an Olympic games that were boycotted by 22 African countries to protest against a tour of South Africa by the All Blacks , the New Zealand national Rugby team. Walker had already achieved world prominence in 1974 when he ran second to . Throughout his career as a world-class miler Walker was coached by Arch Jelley, school principal and middle distance runner himself, whose work with runners has been typified by meticulous training programmes on a scientific basis and effective communication in person. Walker broke the world mile record with a time of 3:49.4 minutes set at Göteborg on August 12 , 1975 , bettering the previous time set by Filbert Bayi . It was the first time the 3 minutes and 50 second barrier had been bettered & was 10 seconds faster than Roger Bannister 's historic first sub 4 minute mile of 3:59.4 run twenty-one years earlier. The record lasted until July 17 , 1979 , when it was beaten by Briton Sebastian Coe . Walker also held the world record for 2000 meters, running 4:51.4 in on 4 August , 1985 . Indoors, Walker broke the 1,500 meter world record with a time of 3:37.4 in 1979. In 1982 in broke Scott's American record. Walker and Flynn's times remain national records. The same year Walker gained a second silver medal in the 1500 metres at the Commonwealth Games when he finished behind Steve Cram . Walker later became the first person in history to run 100 sub 4 Minute Mile s, achieving this feat just ahead of fellow miler Steve Scott . Walker ended his career with 135 sub-four minute miles. In 1996 , Walker announced that he had Parkinson's Disease . He now runs an Equestrian shop south of Auckland and is also a Manukau City Councillor. EXTERNAL LINKS |
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