THERE was something about Percy Cerutty's exotic philosophy and demanding training regimen that worked powerfully on the young West Australian runner Herb Elliott.
He was only 18 when he left Perth to join Cerutty at Portsea and set in train a whirlwind of success that ended when Elliott retired at 22. 
Elliott had a flawless record going into Rome - he was the world record-holder for the 1500m and had never been beaten over the distance or a mile. He was an aggressive and composed athlete, sure of his ability, and with Cerutty he hatched a plan to burn off his rivals in the Olympic final.
Cerutty added his own twist - if Elliott was in reach of a world record or if he was under threat from other runners, Cerutty would wave a yellow towel.
Elliott was ideally placed with two laps to go, and then made his move to the lead with 600m left. Suddenly Elliott was out in front, moving smoothly into the final lap, impervious to almost anything. Until he saw Cerutty waving the yellow towel. "The extraordinary thing was that he wasn't in the crowd where he said he'd be," Elliott told Olympic historian Harry Gordon. "He was by the track. Whatever he meant, I knew I had to run harder." So Elliott powered up a gear. It worked so well that he smashed his own world record and won by 20m, the first Australian track medal since 1896.
But Cerutty wasn't there to see it - in the midst of his towel-waving, he had left the stands, jumped the fence and was standing on the grass edge of the track, still wildly twirling the yellow towel.Italian police seized Cerutty and escorted him off the track while Elliott completed one of the most dominant 1500m wins in Olympic history.