Arthur Barry Magee (born 6 February 1934 in New Plymouth, New Zealand) is a former New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 athlete who mainly competed in the marathon

Marathon

The marathon is a long-distance running event with an official distance of 42.195 kilometres , that is usually run as a road race...

.

He competed for New Zealand in the men's marathon at the 1960 Summer Olympics

1960 Summer Olympics

The 1960 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event held from August 25 to September 11, 1960 in Rome, Italy...

 held in Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

, Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

, where he won the bronze medal. Four years later in Tokyo

Tokyo

, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...

 he placed 23rd place in the 10,000 metres, not making the Olympic Marathon team due to a stress fracture.

Magee was one of the large group of athletes that New Zealand coach Arthur Lydiard

Arthur Lydiard

Arthur Leslie Lydiard, ONZ, OBE, was a New Zealand runner and athletics coach. He has been lauded as one of the outstanding athletics coaches of all time and is credited with popularizing the sport of running and making it commonplace across the sporting world...

 used to revolutionise how the world trained for all sports. At the 1960 Olympic Games Lydiard's pupils and Magee's training partners, Murray Halberg

Murray Halberg

Sir Murray Gordon Halberg, ONZ, MBE is a former New Zealand middle distance runner who won the gold medal in the 5000 metres event at the 1960 Olympics. He also won gold medals in the 3 miles events at the 1958 and 1962 Commonwealth Games...

 and Peter Snell

Peter Snell

Sir Peter George Snell, KNZM, MBE is a former New Zealand athlete, now resident in Texas, United States. He had one of the shortest careers of world famous international sportsmen, yet achieved so much that he was voted New Zealand’s "Sports Champion of the Century"...

 won gold medals over 5000m and 800m within one hour. Magee's bronze in the marathon confirmed Lydiard's training methods.

Magee's run in Rome made him the fastest white marathon runner of all time to that moment. He went on to win many major international races, including Japan's prestigious Fukuoka Marathon

Fukuoka Marathon

The , held in Fukuoka, Japan, is an international men's marathon race established in 1947. It is usually held on the first Sunday in December.The course record is held by Tsegaye Kebede of Ethiopia, running 2:05:18 in 2009 to best his own record from the previous year.-Men's winners:Winners of the...

. But Magee was much more than a marathon runner; he also ran the world's third fastest time over 3miles and fifth fastest 5000m at that time. He also recorded the world's fastest 10,000m and 2nd fastest 5000m for 1961 and was part of New Zealand's 4x1mile world record breaking relay team in 1961.

Magee always attributed his success to Lydiard, who had become something of a father figure after Magee's own father died in the same year that Lydiard started coaching him. After retiring from international competition Magee coached several top runners himself.

He is now a proud coach at Auckland City Athletics (ACA) coaching numerous N.Z. Champions

He lives in Auckland, New Zealand.

Achievements

Representing
1960	Fukuoka Marathon Fukuoka Marathon The , held in Fukuoka, Japan, is an international men's marathon race established in 1947. It is usually held on the first Sunday in December.The course record is held by Tsegaye Kebede of Ethiopia, running 2:05:18 in 2009 to best his own record from the previous year.-Men's winners:Winners of the...	Fukuoka, Japan	1st	Marathon	2:19:04

Quotes

“Anyone can run 20 miles. It's the next six that count.” http://thinkexist.com/quotes/barry_magee/

“Speed kills, distance doesn't”

“Train don't strain”

“Hills are the shortcut to success”

“There are horses for courses”

“The body can only do what the body is regularly accustomed to doing”

Here's one of Barry's favourites and it's one of his twelve commandments: "Go straight to bed after training when you're sick"