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‘Miss, Peter can run’: The chance school carnival event that uncovered an Olympian By Heather McNeill Source:-www.watoday.com.au Runner Peter Bol will on Wednesday night become the first Australian to compete in the 800-metre men’s final since 1968, but his athletic talents nearly went undiscovered. Former teacher at Perth’s St Norbert College Helen Leahy revealed on Monday the 27-year-old’s ability was only realised when he was 16. “I had to organise my team for the athletics carnival and, as a lot of teachers will know, it’s difficult to fill races sometimes and I didn’t have anyone to run the 400 metres, and I had a student say to me, ‘Miss, Peter can run.’ And I said, ‘Peter? Go get him,’ ” she told Radio 6PR in Perth. “He brought him back to me and I said, ‘Peter, can you run the 400 metres?’ and he said, ‘How far is that?’ and ...