Rod Dixon
Rod Dixon (actually: Rodney Phillip Dixon, born July 13, 1950 in Nelson ) is a former New Zealand middle and long distance runners.
In 1972 he won the bronze medal over 1500 m at the Olympic Games in Munich. Also bronze he won the following year at the World Cross Country Championships 1973 in Waregem, where he received the bronze medal with the New Zealand team.
In the British Commonwealth Games in 1974 in Christchurch he was, both remained above 1500 m in one of the most spectacular track races of the 1970s Filbert Bayi fourth behind John Walker under the old world record, and Ben Jipcho. Dixon had with a time of 3:33,89 min residue only one and a half seconds to the new world record holder Bayi ( 3:32,16 min).
In 1976 he was again at the Olympic Games in Montreal in an even more dramatic race in fourth. Receipt of the final straight he had been working behind the Finn Lasse Virén and his compatriot Dick Quax to third place and then lost with 0.12 seconds behind the bronze medal at the German Klaus -Peter Hildenbrand, who dived literally the finish. Dixon was with 13:25,50 min just 0.74 seconds behind the Olympic champion Virén.
In the Commonwealth Games 1978 in Edmonton him were stolen his spikes just before the 5000 -meter final. With borrowed shoes he was eighth. Participation at the Olympic Games in 1980 was denied by the Olympic boycott of his country.
Meanwhile, he was also successful in road races. In 1980 he won the Falmouth Road Race and 1980 and the 1981 Philadelphia Half Marathon. Before the World Cross Country Championships in 1982 called him Fred Lebow, director of the New York City Marathon, to restart with his race. Dixon won bronze and considered now seriously, this Please be followed. Two months later he ran as a test the Auckland Marathon and won right away in 2:11:21 h in the summer, he won Bay to Breakers, and as a spectator at the New York City Marathon, he witnessed how his Alberto Salazar third consecutive victory after a thrilling duel with Rodolfo Gómez celebrated. He was now determined to win the following year, and optimized its training towards this goal. In the summer he defended at Bay to Breakers his title with a course record.
The New York City Marathon was one of the most exciting to be in the history of this event. Geoff Smith and Gidamis Shahanga broke away on the very first half and passed the half way mark in 1:03:12 h Soon after Dixon took alone the chase and finally caught a Shahanga. 32 km east of Smith still had a lead of 35 seconds, but this gradually shrank because Dixon unlike Smith was able to maintain his pace. One kilometer before the finish launched his attack and Dixon overtook Smith 400 m in front of the goal that he h with the course record of 2:08:59 nine seconds before Smith reached.
In 1984 he was on his third Olympic start tenth in the marathon of games in Los Angeles. In 1985 he accompanied for the live coverage at the New York City Marathon, the field of top runners on sections with a film camera and a microphone, which were attached to a helmet. With a third place at the Los Angeles Marathon 1986, he finished his marathon career.
Rod Dixon was trained by his older brother John, who lined up on the principles of Arthur Lydiard. After his playing career, he worked as a coach, race organizer and Laufberater. He is currently training advisor at the Los Angeles Marathon.
Personal Best
- 800 m: 1:47,6 min, September 15, 1973, Rome
- 1000 m: 2:17,2 min, July 30, 1974, Oslo
- 1500 m: 3:33,89 min, February 2, 1974, Christchurch
- 1 miles: 3:53,62 min, June 30, 1975, Stockholm
- 2000 m: 5:01,67 min, July 4, 1975, London
- 3000 m: 7:41,0 min, July 2, 1974 Milan
- 5000 m: 13:17,27 min, July 5, 1976, Stockholm
- 10 - km road race: 28:11 min, July 4, 1981, Atlanta
- 15 - km road race: 43:13 min, December 12, 1981 Alhambra
- Half Marathon: 1:02:12 h, September 20, 1981 Philadelphia
- Marathon: 2:08:59 h, October 23, 1983 New York City