World Athletics
World Athletics is deeply saddened to hear that Kerry O’Brien, one of Australia’s leading distance runners of the 1960s and early 1970s, died on 13 December after a prolonged illness. He was 78.
It was difficult for an Australian distance runner of that era to make a sustained impact. Ron Clarke loomed large in public consciousness, leaving relatively little limelight for others to share. O’Brien was one who did.
He ran superbly on the track and over the country, setting a world record in his principal event, the 3000m steeplechase, and finishing fourth in an Olympic final. He also excelled at distances from 3000m to 10,000m, set a world indoor best at two miles and won a national cross-country title.
O’Brien gained further attention by regularly racing and defeating Clarke in the final years of the latter’s career. In the months leading up to Clarke’s final appearance at the 1970 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, O’Brien finished ahead of him on eight occasions. When O’Brien ran his personal best of 13:37.2 for 5000m in Melbourne in March 1970, Clarke was second, as he was again when O’Brien recorded his best of 13:11.0 for three miles in Portland later that year.
Born in 1946, O’Brien emerged at international level while still a teenager. Just after turning 20, he won the silver medal in the 3000m steeplechase at the 1966 Commonwealth Games in Kingston, finishing behind New Zealand’s Peter Welsh, with Kenya’s Benjamin Kogo third. He also competed in the mile at those Games, placing eighth in 4:02.72.
O’Brien’s greatest successes were achieved between 1969 and 1971, a period that also included some of his most significant disappointments. At the 1970 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, he fell at the water jump on the penultimate lap while leading the steeplechase final and was unable to finish, as teammate Tony Manning went on to take gold.
Just three weeks earlier, however, O’Brien had produced what was arguably the finest performance of his career, setting a world record of 8:21.98 (ratified as 8:22.0) at the ISTAF meeting in Berlin. The mark stood as the Australian record for almost 23 years. Later that year, O’Brien finished fourth in the 3000m steeplechase at the Olympic Games in Mexico City.
From 1967 to 1972, O’Brien was a regular competitor on the US indoor circuit. In 1971, he ran 8:19.2 for two miles in San Diego, what was then the fastest time ever recorded indoors or outdoors for the distance.
Further misfortune followed at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, where O’Brien lost a shoe after being spiked during the steeplechase heats and later fell at a barrier.
Across his career, O’Brien won seven Australian titles in the 3000m steeplechase, one at 5000m and one in cross-country. His career was curtailed by injury and he retired from competitive athletics at the age of 26.
While his major championship medal tally was limited, O’Brien’s world record, Olympic fourth place and sustained international performances established him as one of the leading steeplechasers of his era and among Australia’s finest male distance runners.
After retiring from athletics, O’Brien later enjoyed success as a racehorse breeder.
With help from Len Johnson
