why did Murray Halberg give up football in the atory The Lap of Honour? 50words
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Answer:
No-one ever exemplified the Olympic spirit of triumphing over adversity better then Murray Halberg.
He was so badly injured while playing rugby when he was 17 that at one point his life was despaired of. After months of rehabilitation, he was left with a withered left arm, and had to teach himself to do everything, from writing to eating, with his right hand.
From the embers of that disaster arose the will and the courage of a true champion. Halberg won the Olympic 5000m gold medal in 1960, and the Empire Games three-mile golds in 1958 and 1962. In 1958, he became the first New Zealander to break four minutes for the mile. He was the first really great athlete to emerge from the Arthur Lydiard stable.
Halberg was born in Eketahuna, but grew up in Auckland. He was a budding cricketer before his accident, but was already starting to enjoy some success as a runner, and the chance to watch the 1950 Auckland Empire Games fuelled his desire further.
His talent was nurtured by Lydiard, with his endurance training methods.
"Arthur meant everything to me," says Halberg. "If I'd never met Arthur I would never have become a top runner. There was some talent there, and I may have got as far as winning a New Zealand title. But that would have been it. Arthur's advice, encouragement and expertise enabled me to become an Olympic champion.
"And that was the springboard that enabled me to use my name to launch the Halberg Trust for Crippled Children. Arthur was my mentor, my guide, my guru."
It took Halberg a while to mature as an athlete - there were less-than-impressive efforts at the 1954 Empire Games and 1956 Melbourne Olympics before he stepped into the top world class. At Melbourne he reached the final of the 1500m, but then ran a poor tactical race, slipping back through the field to finish almost last. Devastated, he vowed to himself that he would return to the Olympic stage and fulfill what he believed was his destiny – to be an Olympic champion.
By 1960 he was favoured to win the Olympic 5000m title. He and Lydiard decided on the same tactics he'd successfully employed at the 1958 Cardiff Empire Games - sprinting clear with three laps remaining and