Gordon Pirie
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Douglas Alistair Gordon Pirie (10 February 1931 – 7 December 1991) was an English
long-distance runner Long-distance running, or endurance running, is a form of continuous running over distances of at least . Physiologically, it is largely Aerobic exercise, aerobic in nature and requires stamina as well as mental strength. Within endurance ru ...
. He competed in the 5000 m and 10,000 m events at the 1952, 1956 and
1960 Olympics The 1960 Olympics may refer to: *The 1960 Winter Olympics, which were held in Squaw Valley, United States *The 1960 Summer Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad () and commonly known as Rome 19 ...
and won a silver medal in the 5000 m in 1956, placing fourth in 1952. Born in
Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...
, Pirie grew up in
Coulsdon Coulsdon (, traditionally pronounced ) is a town in south London, England, within the London Borough of Croydon. Coulsdon was an ancient parish in the county of Surrey that included the settlements of Purley and Kenley. It was merged with Sand ...
,
Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...
, and ran for the South London Harriers. He died of
cholangiocarcinoma Cholangiocarcinoma, also known as bile duct cancer, is a type of cancer that forms in the bile ducts. Symptoms of cholangiocarcinoma may include abdominal pain, yellowish skin, weight loss, generalized itching, and fever. Light colored stoo ...
(bile duct cancer) in
Lymington Lymington is a port town on the west bank of the Lymington River on the Solent, in the New Forest (district), New Forest district of Hampshire, England. The town faces Yarmouth, Isle of Wight, to which there is a Roll-on/roll-off, car ferry s ...
,
Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...
.


Biography


Early career

In 1955 Pirie won the
BBC Sports Personality of the Year The BBC Sports Personality of the Year is an awards ceremony that takes place annually in December. Devised by Paul Fox in 1954, it originally consisted of just a single award of the same name. Several new awards have been introduced, and cu ...
award. During that year he had beaten
Emil Zátopek Emil Zátopek (; 19 September 1922 – 21 November 2000) was a Czech long-distance runner best known for winning three gold medals at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki. He won gold in the 5,000 metres and 10,000 metres runs, but his final ...
the triple gold medallist in distance running at the 1952 Olympics. Pirie was an exceptional cross-country runner, winning the English Championship three times. Pirie broke five world records in the course of his career, his
annus mirabilis ''Annus mirabilis'' (pl. ''anni mirabiles'') is a Latin phrase that means "marvelous year", "wonderful year", or "miraculous year". This term has been used to refer to several years during which events of major importance are remembered, notably ...
being 1956, when on 19 June in
Bergen Bergen (, ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, second-largest city in Norway after the capital Oslo. By May 20 ...
, Norway, he ran 13:36.8 for 5,000 m, beating
Vladimir Kuts Volodymyr Petrovych Kuts (, , 7 February 1927 – 16 August 1975) was a Soviet long-distance runner. He won the 5000 and 10000 m races at the 1956 Olympics, setting Olympic records in both events. Biography Kuts was born in Oleksyne, Ukrainia ...
(USSR), and knocking 25 seconds from his own personal best. On 22 June in
Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; ), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros, and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2022, it had a population of 212,660. Trondheim is the third most populous municipality in Norway, and is ...
, Norway, he beat the world 3000 metres record with 7:55.5, and on 14 September, in
Malmö Malmö is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, sixth-largest city in Nordic countries, the Nordic region. Located on ...
,
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...
, he set a new record with 7:52.7. He can be seen in film held by the Cinema Museum in London of the 1952 English Nationals Ref HMO362.


Melbourne Olympics 1956

In the Olympics, held in
Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
later that year, Pirie ran against Kuts in the 10,000 metres and despite the tactics of Kuts, an aggressive front runner whose bursts of speed were particularly damaging to a long-striding runner like Pirie, he stayed with him into the last mile when every other competitor had dropped well back. Kuts surrendered the lead for a short while, then made a sprint which Pirie could not match and he dropped back. Kuts said that if Pirie had stayed with him on that last sprint he would have dropped out of the race. In the 5,000 metres Pirie took second place behind Kuts.
Christopher Chataway Sir Christopher John Chataway (31 January 1931 – 19 January 2014) was a British middle- and long-distance runner, television news broadcaster and Conservative politician. Education Chataway was born in Chelsea, London, the son of James Deny ...
, another British runner, had been selected on past performance. He had not competed at top level for more than a year as he was pursuing a media career. With Pirie and
Derek Ibbotson George Derek Ibbotson (17 June 1932 – 23 February 2017) was an English runner who excelled in athletics in the 1950s. His most famous achievement was setting a new world record in the mile in 1957. Biography Ibbotson was born on 17 J ...
, the third British runner, he was tracking Kuts and had moved ahead of them as they went into a bend. The Soviet runner was setting a much faster pace than Chataway had ever run. Chataway suffered an attack of stomach
cramp A cramp is a sudden, involuntary, painful skeletal muscle contraction or overshortening associated with electrical activity. While generally temporary and non-damaging, they can cause significant pain and a paralysis-like immobility of the aff ...
which caused him to slow down, and as Pirie and Ibbotson came out of the bend they found that Kuts had opened a gap. Pirie and Ibbotson ran round Chataway but Kuts was able to exploit his advantage and won the race with a margin of 11 seconds, the largest ever for this event in Olympic history. For the latter stages of the race Pirie was running what was virtually a front race, as Kuts had broken away, but he was still strong enough to hold off a late challenge by Ibbotson.


Between the Olympics

Pirie competed for England at the
1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games The 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games (Welsh: ''Gemau Ymerodraeth Prydain a'r Gymanwlad'' 1958) were held in Cardiff, Wales, from 18 to 26 July 1958. It was the sixth edition of what would come to be known as the Commonwealth Games, the ...
and finished fourth in the 1-mile and 3-mile events.


Rome Olympics 1960

The 1960 Rome Olympics were held in the height of the summer and Pirie and other leading British contestants asked to go on ahead of the main party, at their own expense, so that they might acclimatise to the heat. They were refused permission, on the grounds that "we travel as a team". Pirie and his fellow 5,000 metres contestants were eliminated in the heats, leaving Pirie's only chance of a gold medal the 10,000 metres held later in the games. Pirie followed the favourite, Murray Halberg of
New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
. Halberg had won his major championships by making a tactical burst in the last mile and holding on to the lead – he had won the 5,000 metres at Rome by that tactic and Pirie's plan was to stay with him as he went forward. Halberg was probably suffering from his effort in the earlier race and as the race went on he failed to stay with the leaders. Pirie realised that he and Halberg had lost contact with them.


Post-Olympic career

For some years, after he had criticised them, sections of the press ran a campaign against Pirie particularly after the Olympics. In a radio interview with
Eamonn Andrews Eamonn Andrews, (19 December 1922 – 5 November 1987) was an Irish radio and television presenter, employed primarily in the United Kingdom from the 1950s to the 1980s. From 1960 to 1964 he chaired the Radio Éireann Authority (now the RTÉ ...
soon after the games, the Australian runner Herb Elliott, referred to Pirie and Ibbotson who, having broken the world record for the mile in 1957, had never regained the same form and was not selected for Rome. Elliott said, "The British Press is the most vicious in the world. Their attitude to people like Pirie and Ibbotson is 'That bloke's on his way down, I'm going to kick him down and keep him there.'" In 1960 Pirie ran a sub-four minute mile in Dublin, clocking 3:59.9. Pirie won the British Orienteering Championships in its first two years, 1967 and 1968, and won the first edition of the JK Orienteering Festival. He also represented UK at the
1966 World Orienteering Championships The 1st World Orienteering Championships were held in the village of Fiskars, Finland, 1–2 October 1966. Participants from eleven nations competed in the championships: Austria, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, East Germany, Finland, Grea ...
, and again at the 1968 World Orienteering Championships. The 1998 edition of '' The Guinness Book of Records'' lists Gordon Pirie under the "Greatest Mileage" entry, stating that he had run a total distance of in 40 years to 1981.


''Running Fast and Injury Free''

In his book ''Running Fast and Injury Free'' Pirie advocated running with initially making ground contact with the midfoot (as opposed to the usual style of long steps with landing on heels), 3–5 steps per second to reduce fatigue, damage to feet, and wasting of energy on vertical movement of body. He also describes his collaboration with
Adolf Dassler Adolf "Adi" Dassler (3 November 1900 – 6 September 1978) was a German Shoemaking, cobbler, inventor and businessman who founded sportswear giant Adidas. He was also the younger brother of Rudolf Dassler, founder of Puma (brand), Puma. Dassler ...
on designing running shoes with stronger toes (instead of the usual design with stronger heels) for better durability with his advocated running style.


References


External links


Gordon Pirie Resource Centre

Gordon Pirie's "Running Fast and Injury Free" , PDF , Running , Track And Field

Gordon Pirie's 'Running Fast and Injury Free' - Ultimate Edition 240307 , PDF

''Running Fast and Injury Free''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pirie, Gordon 1931 births 1991 deaths People from Lymington Athletes from Leeds English male long-distance runners British male long-distance runners Olympic athletes for Great Britain Olympic silver medallists for Great Britain Athletes (track and field) at the 1952 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1956 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1960 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games competitors for England Athletes (track and field) at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games European Athletics Championships medalists World record setters in athletics (track and field) BBC Sports Personality of the Year winners English people of Scottish descent Alumni of St Mary's University, Twickenham Medalists at the 1956 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists in athletics (track and field) Deaths from cholangiocarcinoma Deaths from cancer in England 20th-century English sportsmen