Ian Stewart

Who is Ian Stewart?

Ian Stewart is a Scottish athlete. Ian Stewart was one of the world's leading distance runners between the late 1960s and mid-1970s. Stewart won the bronze medal in the Men's 5000 metres at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. Stewart also won the following championships: European 5,000 metres, Commonwealth 5,000 metres, European Indoor and World Cross Country.

In 1965, at 16 years of age, he ran a British age best of 9.12.8 for 2 miles and two years later set a European junior 3 miles record of 13.39.8. In 1968, he broke European junior records at four distances: 3000m, 2 miles, 3 miles and 5000m. Moving up to the senior ranks in 1969, Stewart took the European Indoor 3000m title in a UK record, claiming the AAA 5000m title and then winning 5000m gold at the European Championships in Athens in a time of 13.44.8.

In 1970, Stewart set a European record at 5,000 metres when he recorded a time of 13:22:8 to win the Commonwealth Games title. This was one of the greatest races of all time and he defeated current world record holder Ron Clarke, Olympic 1,500 metres champion Kip Keino and fellow Scot, Ian McCafferty. Stewart produced a last lap of 54.4, Keino and Clarke could only finish 3rd and 5th, respectively. Stewart won acclaim for an excellent season by being ranked No 1 in the world over 5000m in 1970 by the authoritative American magazine Track and Field News.