Barry Magee Athlete
Arthur Barry Magee (born 6 February 1934 in New Plymouth, New Zealand) is a former New Zealand athlete who mainly competed in the marathon. He was a member of the Wesley Harrier Club and ran in Auckland harrier events in the 1960s in their colours. He competed for New Zealand in the men's marathon at the 1960 Summer Olympics held in Rome, Italy, where he won the bronze medal. Four years later in Tokyo he placed 23rd place in the 10,000 metres, not making the Olympic Marathon team due to a stress fracture. Magee was one of the large group of athletes that New Zealand coach Arthur Lydiard used to revolutionise how the world trained for all sports. At the 1960 Olympic Games Lydiard's pupils and Magee's training partners, Murray Halberg and Peter Snell won gold medals over 5000m and 800m within one hour. Magee's bronze in the marathon confirmed Lydiard's training methods. Magee's run in Rome made him the fastest white marathon runner of all time to that moment. He went on to win many major international races, including Japan's prestigious Fukuoka Marathon. But Magee was much more than a marathon runner; he also ran the world's third fastest time over 3miles and fifth fastest 5000m at that time. He also recorded the world's fastest 10,000m and 2nd fastest 5000m for 1961 and was part of New Zealand's 4x1mile world record breaking relay team in 1961. Magee always attributed his success to Lydiard, who had become something of a father figure after Magee's own father died in the same year that Lydiard started coaching him. After retiring from international competition Magee coached several top runners himself. He is now a proud coach at Auckland City Athletics (ACA) coaching numerous N.Z. Champions He lives in Auckland, New Zealand.