page_title: Jack Lovelock
section_title: Sports career
hierarchical_section_title: Jack Lovelock / Sports career
caption_attribution_description: English: An Olympic photo Berlin 1936 showing Jack Havelock at the finishing line breaking the World Record in 1500 m.
context_page_description: John Edward Lovelock was a New Zealand athlete who became the world 1500m and mile record holder and 1936 Olympic champion in the 1500 metres.
context_section_description: In 1932—by then holder of the British Empire record for the mile, at 4:12.0—Lovelock competed in the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, and placed 7th in the final of the 1500 metres event, won by Luigi Beccali of Italy.
  The following year, he set a world mile record of 4:07.6 when running at Princeton against its emerging champion Bill Bonthron. Later, in September, he represented New Zealand in the first World Student Games where he renewed his rivalry with Beccali, with Beccali winning.  In 1934 Lovelock won the gold medal in the mile (4:13.0) at the British Empire Games. He also lost some races, and believed that he could only make one supreme effort in a season.
  The highlight of Lovelock's career came in 1936, when he won the gold medal in the 1500 m at the Berlin Olympics, setting a world record in the final (3:47.8). Lovelock had plotted ever since his defeat at Los Angeles and developed a revolutionary tactic. The race is regarded as one of the finest 1500 m Olympic finals and included one of the finest fields assembled. Hopefuls for the final included a culmination of contenders from the first great era of mile running from 1932–36 in which the world records for the 1500 m and mile had been broken several times. Apart from Lovelock, the potential rivals included the American mile world record holder Glenn Cunningham who had broken Lovelock's world record in 1934, as well as Bonthron, Beccali, and the emerging English champion Sydney Wooderson, all of whom hoped to line up to race in the Berlin Games. Bonthron, who held the world 1500m record, failed to make the US team, while Wooderson was found to have a fracture in his ankle and missed the final. The silver medalist in Los Angeles, John 'Jerry' Cornes, also raced in Berlin along with the Swedish champion Erik Ny, Canadian Phil Edwards, and American Gene Venzke, who had been regarded as the favourite for the 1932 title until injury denied him a place in the US team. In the final, Lovelock beat Cunningham, who came in second, by making the unprecedented break from 300 m out. Lovelock had been regarded as a sprinter in the home straight but cleverly disguised his plan and caught his opponents napping with a brilliantly timed move. Cunningham, who also broke the world record in the race, was considered by many to be the greatest American miler of all time. Beccali was third.
  Lovelock, who was the captain of the New Zealand Olympic team, raced once more for the British Commonwealth after Berlin and his last race was back at Princeton en route to a Government-sponsored trip to New Zealand where he was beaten by another of the Olympic finalists, the American Archie San Romani (fourth in Berlin), with Cunningham third, rounding out the cast of a memorable period of middle-distance running. Lovelock maintained his interest in athletics until at least the outbreak of the Second World War as a newspaper contributor.
caption: Jack Havelock breaking the finishing line at the Summer Olympic Games 1936 in Berlin