GREAT NEW ZEALANDER

Chronicle (Levin), 30 December 1949, Page 4

GREAT NEW ZEALANDER

■ '• 111 - 1 W " " Jack Lovelock's Career To most New Zealanders the shock of learning of the death of Dr. Jack Lovelock will be linked with the fame which he won both for himself and for his country as an athlete. Those who knew the 1936 Olynipie 1500 metres champion more intimafely, however, realised that the superb qiialities he displayed on the track in no way overshadowed other fine personal attributes which combined to make 'him a truly great New Zealander. It is a fact, however, that his athletic ,qareer refiected, for the benefit of all who took pains to examine ' it in its true light, the characteristics which had already taken LOvelock far in the field ' of medicine and had promised to Win him even greater distinction.

i ( Strong Personality. Dr. Lovelock was a personality of great mental and moral strength. His win at Berlin in 1936, for example, represented more than four years of jsingle-minded progress t*)wards a chosen goal. When he represented New Zealand in the Olympic Games at Los An* geles in 1932 he was a young athlete on the way up. 'Beaten there, he stored in his mind for future reference the lessons of that outing. Steadily and inexorabiy, he made more entries under the heading of "Experience." As his Berlin run. drew nearer he so designed his preparations that his peak effort, for 1936 would be produced in the Olympic Stadium: • All the time, however, he kept his athletic career in its due place in relation to his training in the pro-

fession of medicine. Among the many Rhodes Scholars sent to:. Oxford : from New Zealand —far too many of them, perhaps, only to be shaped for a career abroad — Dr. Lovelock will always stand as one of the most famous. Specialist. In the medical sphere Dr. Lovelock drew upon his experience as an athlete to specialise in ' muscular eomplaints. Durin'g the war he was

commissioned as a major and was assigned to the physical training -of • conv'alescent wounded. Subsequeritly he was appointed to the hospital in Manhattan, New York, where he was practising at the time of his deatli. He was assistant director of physical medicine, and director of rehabilitation,. his work being particularly concerned with the treatment of those crippled by infantile paralysis and other insidious "diseases. After his Olympic Games tr iumph Dr. Lovelock paid a visit to New Zealand in 1936, when he made a tour of the Dominion. At his various public appearances he created a very deep impression by his ability to give a forceful address in which the quality of his matter and the -facility with which he spoke were both outstanding. Athletic Career. Although Dr. Lovelock did not hit the New Zealand athletic spotlight, before proceeding' abroad as a Rhodes Scholar, he did give -some glimpses of native ability when attending Otago University. Not the least impressive of his efforts was that of winning the Edmond Cup three-mile steeplechase from a field of very useful cross-eountry men. Then, in the 1929-30 track and field season, he was fourth in the national one-mile championship. A 1931 New Zealand Rhodes Scholar, Dr. Lovelock was fortunate. in having such a fine athlete as Jerry Cornes with whom to train at Oxford. He did the bulk of his running in Great Britain, and on the Continent, interspersed with odd visits to America. It was largely as a result of the, form he showed against Cornes in 1932 that he was selected to represent New Zealand in the 1500 metres at the Olympic Games -in Los Angeles. He qualified for the final and was placed sixth. Record at Berlin. In 1936 Dr. Lovelock was again chosen to run for New Zealand at the Olympic Games and, in winning the 1500 metres he set a time, 3min 49.8sec, which was theii the world record and which defied the world 's best at the 1948 Games in London. Together with the runners whp opposed him at Berlin, men like Glen Cunningham (U.S.A.)' and Luigi Becalli (Italy), Dr. Lovelock had also previously set a world record time for a mile. This he had accomplished three years earlier at New York. In 4min 7.6sec, he beat Cunningham aiid another old rival, Bill Bonthron, of Princeton University, in a classic "Mile of thfe Cetttury." However, records, so far as Dr, Lovelock was concerned, were always a secondary consideration. In whatever company he may have been he simply ran to win. It was this approach to the sport (he was, unquestionably, the keenest athletic student New Zealand has produced) that contributed so much to 'his sliccess. He subsequently produced a text book in which this is elearly revealed. Dr. Lovelock was born. at Reefton and received his secondary education at the T-imaru Boys' High School.