Neville Scott

Neville Scott, was a legend among New Zealand’s great runners, who fought back from almost impossible odds to compete at the 1964 Olympic Games. Scott initially showed promise as a middle-distance runner, winning the New Zealand junior mile title in 1953. Running for the Ellerslie Club, he beat Murray Halberg – a future Olympic champion – for the Auckland mile title in 1956 with a time of 4m 4s. In less than a year he had lowered his mile time to 4m 2.5s. Scott, at the age of 21, competed in the 1500m final at the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games, finishing seventh, in 3m 42.8s, four places ahead of Halberg.

At the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Cardiff, Wales, Scott won the bronze medal in the three-mile event in 13:26.2. He also competed in the mile, finishing ninth. He finished third in the second heat of the one mile in 4:05.9 and 9th in the final in 4:11.9.

Scott suffered from alcoholism, but fought back to recover in 1963, to win ...