Snell Fails Again, 7th Out Of 10

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30794, 5 July 1965, Page 3

Snell Fails Again, 7th Out Of 10

(Special Correspondent N.Z.P.A.)

LONDON, July 4.

Only a great sportsman could have handled the British press so skilfully and sincerely as P. G. Snell did at the White City, London on Saturday, after a mile race in which he had finished seventh out of a field of ten.

It was bis fifth successive loss in this farewell Ameri-can-European tour and under the overcast sky at the stadium he never really looked like the Snell that everyone knew. He grinned shyly when he said: “I just know what the New Zealanders will be thinking back home. “I feel okay. Naturally I’m concerned at running badly, but I’m considering myself first and foremost." What the Olympic champion and former world mile record-holder means by this is that he is prepared to lose the next few races, if need be, in his plan to regain complete fitness. The stomach disorder which first affected him in

Canada is still troubling him. “I have not got enough strength in my legs,” he said, but then added he hoped to be back in top form in two weeks.

AU eyes had been glued on Snell during the four laps of the race. It was a small crowd but most had read the reports in the morning newspapers describing him as “A tired man,” “Drawn with fatigue” and “Mentally and physically weary,” the result of a press conference in his hotel the night before. He started in his usual manner by sitting behind in the early stages, but gradually began to move up as the half-mile neared. New Zealand’s bronze medallist in the Olympic 1500

metres, J. L. Davies, went with him and at the 880 yards mark both moved into the lead. For a matter of about 200 yards Snell was in front but then he started to struggle and began to be passed.

At the final bend it looked as though Davies would win but the Czechoslovakian, Josef Odlozil, was there too, and after a brief tussle in the run to the tape, the Czech, a Tokyo silver medallist, proved too strong for Davies. Eight of the 10 runners broke four minutes for the distance and Odlozil’s winning time was 3min 56.8 sec. Davies was a tenth of a second slower, his second fastest mile, and Snell ran 3min 59.75ec. Davies was jubilant after receiving his second-place trophy from the New Zealand High Commissioner (Sir Thomas Macdonald). He said he was now running so well that he hoped to extend his European tour because of the boost he was

getting from competition. Until Saturday he had been planning on returning home soon. The bespectacled, 27-year-old Hamilton runner also announced that eventually he might change to the 5000 metres, because of his successes in Europe over 3000 metres.

Snell carried out his impromptu press conference in the vacant Royal Box which was quickly jammed by journalists. Coughing slightly, he sat on the floor to keep out of the draught, parrying questions. Probably he had run stupidly, he said, but he felt far better in the early stages than he had at Helsinki when he finished fifth in a 1500 metres race.

He thought the solid IJhour training session he had on Friday was “not conducive to fast times today.” His next race will be over a mile in Dublin tomorrow (Monday), then he will run in Prague on July 9, Oslo on July 14-15, West Berlin on July 17 and then Sweden.