Associated Press
Peter Snell, a middle-distance runner from New Zealand who set world records in five events and became a three-time Olympic gold medalist in the 1960s, died on Thursday at his home in Dallas. He was 80.
His wife, Miki, confirmed the death to The New Zealand Herald. She said that he had had a longstanding heart ailment.
Snell was a virtual unknown on the international track scene when he surged in the stretch of the 800-meter race at the 1960 Rome Olympics to overtake Roger Moens of Belgium, who held the world record at the time.