By Jeff Hampton
It is 100 years since Jack Lovelock was born.
He grew up in South Canterbury, and his old school in Timaru has put on a special exhibition of memorabilia.
But not as well-known is the fact that Lovelock wasn't actually born there.
Instead it was at Crushington, just south of Reefton, where he lived until he was three.
Today a Lovelock memorial was unveiled near the abandoned mining settlement. Crushington has never before seen anything like it.
Lovelock's most famous feat was to win gold in the 1500m at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.
"Jack Lovelock was the forerunner to aspiring athletes in this country, and we've had many more since," says Buller mayor Pat McManus.
The idea of a memorial grew because visitors kept asking why photos of Lovelock and his family were on display at the nearby Black's Point Museum.
Locals designed and put together a memorial featuring a galvanised metal silhouette of Lovelock running. It is mounted on top of a piece of quartz from the mine where his father once worked. The quartz is inlaid with gold Olympic rings.
Lovelock's birthday was marked in another part of the country as well. South Canterbury has long laid claim to the runner who grew up and was educated there after his family moved from the coast when he was three.
Timaru Boys' High's memorabilia includes a bronze statue, a Third Reich crystal trophy and an oak grown from a seedling presented to him at the Berlin Olympics.
Today the school put on a birthday display of memorabilia, including 80 medals.
Lovelock went on to become a doctor and moved to New York, where he fell under a train in 1949.
But the legend lives on - two places in the South Island are making sure the Lovelock story isn't forgotten.
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