The Landy Era: From Nowhere to the Top of the World

World-class athletics was something that happened overseas, not in Australia. And then, on 13 December 1952, John Landy ran a mile at Melbourne's Olympic Park in four minutes 2.1 seconds. In those few minutes he re-ignited the race for the sub-four minute mile and inspired a generation of Australian athletes to challenge the world at distances from 880 yards to the marathon.

Others, notably the charismatic coach Percy Cerutty, and Landy's Helsinki Olympics teammates Don Macmillan and Les Per...