Snell wants to find out what it means to hurt

Press, 30 December 1980, Page 3

Snell wants to find out what it means to hurt

NZPA-Reuter Pullman, Washington After exercising for years, Peter Snell decided to find out what the continuous ■workouts were doing to his body. Snell, aged 42 and slightly graying now, has been a world record-holder over both the mile and the 880yards. The New Zealand-born track star of the 1960 s says he is more interested these days in exercise physiology than Olympic gold medals or trophies. Snell, who has been studying for his advanced degree at Washington State University since 1977, passed his oral examinations this month and hopes to have his PhD in exercise' physiology next summer. Exercise phys-

iology is the study of the effects of exercise on functions of the body. “This whole educational process for nje is a means to escape froth’ coaching and athletics,” he said. “Achieving it is really difficult for those athletes who haven’t prepared themselves for another sphere.”... Snell has been preparing for his other sphere for a long time. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of California at Davis. “I guess I always thought about getting a degree, ever since I got into running. I remember being on public forums with guys who had degrees, and they’d pull rank on you. I sometimes felt inferior,” he said. Few could pull rank on

Snell on the track in .his prime, though. In 1962, he set the world mile record at 3:54.4, and in 1964 established the 880 mark at 1:44.3. He has won three gold medals in Olympic competition, at Rome in 1960 and Tokyo in 1964. It took three years before his mile mark was broken, and it was not until the 1970 s that his 880-yard record fell. In 1977, he finished third in the American A.B.C.’s Superstars television competition. “For a long time, my effectiveness was based entirely on these athletic accomplishments. Then I recognised I was not improving and nothing was coming back into me. It was all athletics,” Snell said.

“Duringfthe 1960 s and up until 1974,1 was doing what many athletes do, promoting physical fitness and getting into public relations,” he said. Today, in his new sphere, he is studying fatigue, heart rate, muscles and circular tion. However, he has not abandoned his old avocation completely — he works with W.S.U. track coach, Mr John Chaplin, and teaches tennis and badminton at the university. However, as he prepares to graduate and pursue a research career at a Dallas medical centre, he does not run as much as he used to. “It’s pretty much a low priority for me now. I see myself using my research to escape from any more coaching situations,” he said.