New Zealand athlete Peter Snell celebrates his 68th birthday today.

He may have had a short career for a famous international sportsman, but Snell achieved so much he was voted New Zealand's Sports Champion of the 20th Century.

By the age of 19 he had won gold and set a new record for the 800 metres at the Rome Olympics in 1960.

Four years later, at the Tokyo Olympics, he won gold and set a new record in the 800 metres and also won gold in the 1500 metres, a double not to be achieved again until the 2005 World Championships in Athletics in Helsinki.

In his career Peter Snell set five individual world records and set a new four-by-one mile relay record with other New Zealand athletes.