It would be nice to think that the Commonwealth Games which are shortly to get underway in Delhi will offer us another sporting memory to rank with the 1500 metres final that took place in Christchurch, New Zealand in 1974.

I have watched a fair few 1500 metres races, and there is something about the distance which engenders a particular fascination for spectators.

It’s long enough for a sporting drama to play out with a few twists and, more often than not, a late turn.

The 1500m final at the 1992 Barcelona Games was a thriller, with home runner Fermin Cacho eventually bursting clear of the opposition to cross the line as King Juan Carlos looked proudly on.

The 1500m from the 1980 Moscow Olympics was unforgettable for the personal drama of Sebastian Coe, whose earlier 800 metres final had been the stuff of nightmares - it’s the biggest race of your life, for this you came, but no, no, you’re boxed in, you know it’s not right but you can’t stop it happening, run, run to make it better but it’s too late.

As he crossed the line to win the gold he thought he was going to win at the shorter distance, Coe, so controlled in all he says and does, blazed with emotion. It was like looking into a furnace.

Still, the memory of that race in Christchurch endures.

The finishing straight saw a dramatic struggle between men moving into territory they had never been in before, with three crossing the line in personal best times.

But all this was rendered into a sub-plot by the overarching drama of the race. For these men were not racing, but chasing. They were in pursuit of a man who had set out ahead of them and, simply, remained there.

For seven years, the world 1500m record had belonged to Jim Ryun, the American who shared the unhappy distinction of other great runners such as Ron Clarke of never winning the medals his supreme talent deserved. It stood at 3min 33.1sec.

When Filbert Bayi toed the line on that day in February, he was not seeking to beat Ryun’s time, but to win a race. The method he chose to achieve that, however, was boldness itself. He went to the front, and stayed...

Among those in the chasing pack were two home runners, John Walker and Rod Dixon, and Kenya’s Ben Jipcho.

The contest reached its full intensity in the final straight as Walker came through to win his race-within-a-race and cut down the distance on the African, only to see time and distance run out for him.



In an event where the world’s best had been pared down by fractions of seconds, Bayi, barely showing any sign of stress, had done something astonishing, taking almost a full second off Ryun’s mark in clocking 3:32.2.

Walker, too, had broken the old record, finishing in 3.32.5, with Jipcho taking bronze in 3.33.16 and Dixon finishing fourth.

Tanzania’s part in the African boycott of the 1976 Montreal Olympics meant that Bayi did not have the chance to add an Olympic to his Commonwealth gold, although a pre-Games bout of malaria would hardly have left him in top form. Four years later in Moscow he did win silver in the 3,000m steeplechase.

For Walker, that glorious defeat on home soil presaged three years of glorious victories as he became the first man to break 3: 50 for the mile as he ran 3.49.4 in Gothenburg the following year and won the Olympic title his ability so richly merited a year after that in
Montreal.

But Walker was never destined to convert his talent to gold in the Commonwealth arena.

Having missed the 1978 Games, he reached the 1500m final at the 1982 Games only to be beaten by the rapidly emerging talent that was Steve Cram.

Four years later, in Edinburgh, he finished fifth in the 5,000m. When the Games returned to New Zealand in 1990, Walker – then in the closing days of his career - was desperate to sign off with a flourish in the 1500m. But fate was against him.

Shortly before the Games got underway in Auckland I covered a warm-up meeting in the nearby town of Hamilton at which Walker was due to be running.

When his event came up, it was clear that the local hero was not taking part. But shortly afterwards I discovered him leaning against a fence watching the action. He explained that he had been put out of the running after being kicked in the leg by one of his horses.
Being spiked is one thing for a track athlete. Being hoofed is another.

Walker, being Walker, still turned up to race - and duly reached the 1500m final, only to be tripped early on in a race that was eventually won by Britain’s Peter Elliott.

Walker, being Walker, had not remained on the track, but got back to his feet to finish 12th. Elliott subsequently persuaded the great New Zealander to accompany him on a richly-merited lap of honour.

What can Delhi offer to match these deeds? We’ll soon see...

Mike Rowbottom, one of Britain's most talented sportswriters, has covered the last five Summer and four Winter Olympics for The Independent. Previously he has worked for the Daily Mail, The Times, The Observer, the Sunday Correspondent and The Guardian. He is now chief feature writer for insidethegames