Allan Lawrence

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Allan Cleave Evan "Al" Lawrence (born July 9, 1930 in Punchbowl , New South Wales ; † May 15, 2017 in Houston , Texas ) was an Australian - American athlete who was successful as a long-distance runner in the 1950s . He won an Olympic bronze medal.

Life

Allan Lawrence stayed in the United States from 1958 to 1960 and started for the Houston Cougars . He became a US citizen in early 1980 and founded the Al Lawrence Running Club in Houston , which is still active today.

Together with Mark Scheid he wrote the following books (all published by Little, Brown & Co):

  • The self-coached runner. Boston 1984
  • The Self-Coached Runner II: Cross Country and the Shorter Distances. Boston 1987
  • Running and Racing after 35.Boston 1990

Allan Lawrence was 1.71 m tall and weighed 61 kg during his playing days.

Career

Lawrence was able to place himself several times at both Australian and US national championships:

year 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960
1 mile (min) 3.
4: 14.8
3 miles (min) 5.
15: 42.6		 4.
14: 38.2		 2.
14: 16.4		 5. 2.
13: 45.0		 3.
14: 14.2
6 miles (min) 2.
31: 12.4		 Master
29: 38.4		 Master
29: 05.2		 3.
30: 21.6		 2.
29: 05.8
Cross (10 km) (min) 6.
34:05
Marathon (h) 3.
2: 26: 43.0
10,000 m (USA) (min) 2.
31: 35.5		 Master
30: 11.4

He also took part in the Olympic Games in Melbourne in 1956 and in Rome in 1960 , the British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Vancouver in 1954 and the World Student Games UIE in Moscow in 1957.

Allan Lawrence also enjoyed great success as a senior athlete in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Olympic Games Melbourne 1956

Lawrence competed over 5000 meters and 10,000 meters . Although he won over 5000 meters in 14: 14.67 minutes, he was ahead of Wolodymyr Kuz , but was unable to continue the competition due to an injury. On the other hand, he was in top form over 10,000 meters and ran a personal best in 28: 53.59 minutes. For this he was rewarded with the bronze medal behind Kuz (gold in 28: 45.59 min) and the Hungarian József Kovács (silver in 28: 52.36 min).

Olympic Games in Rome 1960

In Rome, Lawrence could not build on his successes in Melbourne. Over 5000 meters, he missed qualifying for the final as fourth of his heat. With his time of 14: 10.71 min, he would not have progressed in the other three prelims either. He had to give up over 10,000 meters, and in the marathon he only reached 54th place out of 64 participants (2: 38: 46.0 hours, the Ethiopian Abebe Bikila won in 2: 15: 16.2 hours).

Commonwealth Games in Vancouver 1954

Lawrence started over the 3 and 6 mile distances, where he finished tenth and sixth, as well as in the marathon, which he could not finish.

Universiade in Moscow 1957

Lawrence took home two medals from the Student World Games. Over 5000 meters he won bronze in 13: 54.2 minutes behind the Hungarian Miklós Szabó (gold in 13: 51.8 minutes) and Friedrich Janke from the GDR (silver in 13: 52.0 minutes), and was over 10,000 meters he in 29: 16.4 min only inferior to Pyotr Bolotnikov (gold in 29: 14.6 min), who started for the Soviet Union .

Top performances

  • 5000 m : 13: 54.2 min (1957)
  • 10,000 m : 28: 53.59 min (1956)
  • Marathon : 2: 26: 43.0 h (1953)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Allan Lawrence 1930-2017. In: olympics.com.au. Australian Olympic Committee , May 16, 2017, accessed May 19, 2017 .
personal data
SURNAME Lawrence, Allan
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lawrence, Allan Cleave Evan (full name); Lawrence, Al (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Australian-American athlete and author
DATE OF BIRTH July 9, 1930
PLACE OF BIRTH Punchbowl , New South Wales , Australia
DATE OF DEATH 15th May 2017
Place of death Houston , Texas , United States