Over the next decade, a fascinating experiment was played out at the sport’s highest level. Early adopters of the Lydiard system competed against speed-based training loyalists in all the big races, which became proxy battlefields where the two training systems struggled for dominance through their athletic avatars. Lydiard-style training finally won, but victory was not achieved overnight. At the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo, the men’s 800 meters and 1500 meters were won by Peter Snell, one of Arthur’s boys; the men’s 5000 meters was won by American Bob Schul, who practiced speed-based training;
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