Born in Leeds on February 10, 1931, Gordon Pirie has the distinction of being the first full-time athlete in Britain, at a time when athletes received no government or independent funding. Pirie was renowned for his high-intensity, daily training schedule, reportedly covering 200 miles or more every week, but he also to took a systematic approach to training, as espoused by German coach Waldemar Gerschler, which included high volume interval running sessions.
A long-distance specialist, Pirie set five world records during his career, notably for 5,000m in Bergen, Norway on June 19, 1956, for 3,000m in Trondheim, Norway three days later and for 3,000m, again, in Malmö, Sweden on September 4, 1956, where he took nearly three seconds off his personal best. Remarkably, though, he never won a major international title. The closest he came was at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia, when he won the silver medal in the 5,000m, behind pre-race favourite, and easy winner, Vladimir Kuts of the Soviet Union. Pirie also won the bronze medal in the same event at the 1958 European Athletics Championships in Stockholm, Sweden.
In 1955, Gordon Pirie was voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year largely as a result of beating Emil ‘Czech Locomotive’ Zátopek three times during the year, which catapulted him to stardom. Zátopek was, and is, best known for winning the gold medal in the 5,000m, 10,000m and marathon at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland, the latter coming in his first attempt over 26 miles and 385 yards. Pirie recorded his most notable victory over the man he sought to emulate over 10,000m at the White City Stadium, London on October 10, 1955 during a London v. Prague athletics match. In fact, Pirie beat compatriot Ken Norris, with Zátopek, who had held the world record at the distance since October 22, 1949, and improved it three times in the interim, only third.
Pirie emigrated to New Zealand in 1957 and, while he competed for Great Britain at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, but could finish only eighth in his heat in the 5,000m, thus failing to qualify for the final, and only tenth in the final-only 10,000m. He retired from the track in 1961.
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