For the first time athletes marched under one flag for the opening ceremony, the flag of the Olympic Games. There were some poignant moments on the track. The sentimental favourite in the metric mile (the 1500m), John Landy, was not good enough on the day, finishing third to Irishman Ron Delany and Klaus Richtzenhain of the German team. Such was the ability of the 12 runners in the final that at the start of the last lap only 8 metres separated first from last. Ironically, Landy, ever the sportsman, had gone up to Delany before the race to wish him well with the words I think you can win this one'. A very memorable event as we watched high jumper Charles "Chilla" Porter fought out a marathon battle, which finished after sundown, before he went down to American Charles Dumas. Porter improved more than 5 centimetres on his previous best to take the silver medal. One surprise was the third placing in the final of the 100m by Australian Hec Hogan. He didn't know it at the time but he had contracted leukaemia and as the next Olympics were taking place in Rome, Hogan passed away. The Melbourne Olympics also created history by virtue of the way they finished. Previously the teams had marched in much the same fashion as at the Opening Ceremony. But a 17-year-old schoolboy, John lan Wing, wrote to the organisers suggesting that, when the Games closed, the sports men and women of the world should mingle, with no more than two teammates together, and not march but walk, waving to the crowd. The organisers agreed and Wing's suggestion became a reality which is now followed at every Olympics.