17th June 2015 . Ron Clarke has died. Considered Australia’s greatest ever middle-distance runner, Ron Clarke, will be remembered as one of the best athletes in the world for many years.
Clarke, AO, MBE, passed away due to kidney failure at the Allamanda hospital on the Gold Coast.
During his career he set 17 world records which included 12 during a remarkable 44-day tour of Europe in 1965, nine years after he had been invited as a 19-year-old to light the Olympic flame at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics.
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Clarke won the bronze medal at the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo, in the 10,000-metre event.Sadly, he never won an Olympic gold.
After his athletics career, he was Gold Coast mayor from 2004 to 2012, but was unsuccessful in a bid for state politics.
He had been awarded the Order of Australia and honoured as a Member of the British Empire.
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