Norman Read wins 50km walk in Melbourne, 1956

Read was a crowd favourite during the Olympic walk. By the time the walkers had completed two laps of the Melbourne Cricket Ground and progressed to the streets outside, all 117,000 spectators were aware of him.

“I decided to have one more nervous one while we were all in the dressing room. When I came back, they’d gone. I panicked and raced around trying to get to the track. I made it with two minutes to spare. When I came running out, the crowd all laughed.”