Barry Magee was the third athlete coached by Arthur Lydiard to win an Olympic medal in Rome in 1960. Peter Snell and Murray Halberg won gold medals within an hour of each other on September 2 and nine days later Magee finished third in the marathon behind Abebe Bikila of Ethiopia and Rhadi Ben Abdesselam of Morocco. In December of the same year, Magee won the Fukuoka marathon in Japan in what was then a race record time of 2-19:04. Like most Lydiard athletes, Magee was versatile and he was a member of the New Zealand team (with Gary Philpott, Halberg and Snell) that set a world 4×mile relay record in Dublin 1961. Magee was 23rd in the 10,000 at the Olympic Games in Tokyo but did not start the marathon because of injury. He also competed in the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games and finished eighth in the 6 miles and 15th in the 3 miles. Four years later he finished fourth in the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games 6 miles.
Personal Bests: 10000 – 28:50.8 (1961); Mar – 2-17:19 (1960).
New Zealand