A sculpture created by Mitch Mitchell at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympic_Park_Stadium" class="extiw" title="w:Olympic Park Stadium">Olympic Park</a> depicting sportmanship by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Landy" class="extiw" title="w:John Landy">John Landy</a> helping his fellow runner <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Clarke" class="extiw" title="w:Ron Clarke">Ron Clarke</a>.
<p>Underneath it says:
<i>Sportmanship:</i>
<i>This sculpture immortalises an act of sportmanship that took place at Olympic Park, Melbourne, during the Australian mile championship of 1956, in which <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Landy" class="extiw" title="w:John Landy">John Landy</a> stopped to help a fallen <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Clarke" class="extiw" title="w:Ron Clarke">Ron Clarke</a>. Landy's feat in going on to win the race has been overshadowed by the unselfish gesture that is part of Australian sporting lore.</i>
</p><p><i>The following was published as an open letter by sports journalist <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Gordon_(journalist)" class="extiw" title="w:Harry Gordon (journalist)">Harry Gordon</a> in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sun_News-Pictorial" class="extiw" title="w:The Sun News-Pictorial">The Sun News-Pictorial</a> on March 12, 1956:</i>
<i>Dear John,</i>
<i>The fellows in the Press box don't have many heroes. Often they help to make them - but usually they know too much about them to believe in them.</i>
<i>Up in the Press seats they don't usually clap. They are busy and they are used to big sport. Mostly, they've mastered the art of observing without becoming excited.</i>
<i>On Saturday at 4:35pm, though the sports writers forgot the rules. They had a hero... every one of them. And you were it.</i>
Among the 22,000 who crammed into Olympic Park there was not a soul who was not thrilled and inspired by your effort. None of them will forget it.<i></i>
<i>Yours was the classic sporting gesture. It was a senseless piece of chivalry - but it will be remembered as one of the finest actions in the history of sport.</i>
<i>In a nutshell, you sacrificed your chance of a world record to go to the aid of a fallen rival.</i>
<i>And in pulling up, trotting back to Ron Clarke, muttering "Sorry" and deciding to chase the field, you achieved much more than any world record.</i>
<i>Your action cost you six or seven seconds. And you sprinted round that last lap like a 220 runner to overhaul the field and win in 4 minutes, 4.2 seconds.</i>
<i>You... the fellow who used to be called a mechanical runner without a finish.</i>
<i>A lot of people are wondering why you pulled up. The truth is of course, that you didn't think about it. It was the instinctive action of a man whose mate is in trouble.</i>
<i>In the record books it will look like a very ordinary run for these days. But, for my money, the fantastic gesture and the valiant recovery make it overshadow your <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1954_British_Empire_and_Commonwealth_Games" class="extiw" title="w:1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games">magnificent mile in Turku and Vancouver</a>.</i>
</p>
<i>It was your greatest triumph. And it is fitting that it took place in your <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melbourne" class="extiw" title="w:Melbourne">home town</a>.</i>
<a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:SuperJew" title="User:SuperJew">SuperJew</a>
CC BY-SA 4.0
<span class="int-own-work" lang="en">Own work</span>