Image: Sportmanship sculpture

Description: A sculpture created by Mitch Mitchell at Olympic Park depicting sportmanship by John Landy helping his fellow runner Ron Clarke. Underneath it says: Sportmanship: This sculpture immortalises an act of sportmanship that took place at Olympic Park, Melbourne, during the Australian mile championship of 1956, in which John Landy stopped to help a fallen Ron Clarke. Landy's feat in going on to win the race has been overshadowed by the unselfish gesture that is part of Australian sporting lore. The following was published as an open letter by sports journalist Harry Gordon in The Sun News-Pictorial on March 12, 1956: Dear John, The fellows in the Press box don't have many heroes. Often they help to make them - but usually they know too much about them to believe in them. Up in the Press seats they don't usually clap. They are busy and they are used to big sport. Mostly, they've mastered the art of observing without becoming excited. On Saturday at 4:35pm, though the sports writers forgot the rules. They had a hero... every one of them. And you were it. Among the 22,000 who crammed into Olympic Park there was not a soul who was not thrilled and inspired by your effort. None of them will forget it. Yours was the classic sporting gesture. It was a senseless piece of chivalry - but it will be remembered as one of the finest actions in the history of sport. In a nutshell, you sacrificed your chance of a world record to go to the aid of a fallen rival. And in pulling up, trotting back to Ron Clarke, muttering "Sorry" and deciding to chase the field, you achieved much more than any world record. Your action cost you six or seven seconds. And you sprinted round that last lap like a 220 runner to overhaul the field and win in 4 minutes, 4.2 seconds. You... the fellow who used to be called a mechanical runner without a finish. A lot of people are wondering why you pulled up. The truth is of course, that you didn't think about it. It was the instinctive action of a man whose mate is in trouble. In the record books it will look like a very ordinary run for these days. But, for my money, the fantastic gesture and the valiant recovery make it overshadow your magnificent mile in Turku and Vancouver. It was your greatest triumph. And it is fitting that it took place in your home town.
Title: Sportmanship sculpture
Credit: Own work
Author: SuperJew
Usage Terms: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0
License: CC BY-SA 4.0
License Link: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
Attribution Required?: Yes