As the status of Russian athletes continues to beset international sport  – back in favour with the International Olympic Committee, still outsiders as far as the International Paralympic Committee is concerned, although watch this space, still disconcertingly out of order as far as the International Association of Athletics Federations is concerned – there is a danger of all concerned getting issue fatigue.

The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) last week warned that Russian athletes - including those currently cleared to compete as Authorised Neutral Athletes - risked being expelled from its competitions unless the current impasse can be resolved.

Central to this is the reinstatement of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) and acknowledgement of the findings of the McLaren and Schmid reports into doping in the country.

Russian officials have repeatedly said they will not accept the findings, however.

But the focus re-sharpens when one hears statements such as the one recently made by Russia’s currently invincible high jumper, Mariya Lasitskene, who could find her peerless talent without expression if the situation cannot be improved.

The reigning world indoor and outdoor champion criticised the apparent inactivity of the Russian Athletics Federation and the recent stance taken up by RUSADA.

The RUSADA chair, Alexander Parkin, speculated last week that the success of athletes such as Lasitskene and her compatriot in the men’s high jump, Danil Lysenko, were the reason why the IAAF had maintained its ban on the main bulk of Russian athletes.

So there’s one side; another side; and talented athletes trapped, helpless, in the middle.

In such times it is a relief to see sporting gestures that appear free, clear, straightforward and unexceptionable.

Which brings us to the ceremony that took place last Saturday (March 10) in the Auckland suburb of Manurewa which attracted figures such as 1964 Olympic 5,000 metres  finalist Bill Baillie, Munich 1972 1500m bronze medallist Rod Dixon, 84-year-old coaching legend Arch Jelley and Millie Sampson, the first New Zealand woman to set a world best in the marathon.

Among those sending their best wishes were Sir Peter Snell, the New Zealander who won three Olympic gold medals, including the 800m and 1500m double at Tokyo in 1964, and double Olympic gold medallist and IAAF President Sebastian Coe.

The occasion was the unveiling of a statue in honour of one of New Zealand’s all-time great sporting performers, Sir John Walker.

Sir John, reportedly, was initially taken  aback by the idea of having a statue erected in his honour, but he  liked what he saw. "I'm really happy with it. It's so life like and really captures the moment," he told the Manukau Courier.

The life-sized bronze statue, by artist Joanne Sullivan, sits opposite Sir John’s old school and depicts the moment he crossed the finish line to win the 1500 metres gold medal at the 1976 Montreal Olympics.

While that was the one high point of his career, there were other historic performances, most notably his achievement the year before in Gothenburg when he became the first man to run the mile in under 3min 50sec, recording 3:49.4.

A year before that world record he had been right at the heart of the superb Commonwealth Games 1500m final in which Tanzania’s Filbert Bayi led from gun to tape to take almost a second off the world record with a time of 3min 32.2sec, finishing fastest, but still well adrift.

He broke the world 2,000m record shortly before striking Olympic gold in Montreal, and in 1985, aged 33, he became the first man to run 100 sub-four-minute miles.

While Snell retired in 1965, aged 26, Walker was the polar opposite, running for as long as he could, and only being thwarted in his ambition to become the first runner aged over 40 to break the four-minute mile by an untimely injury.

I count it a privilege to have witnessed Walker's last race in a New Zealand vest, in the 1500m final at the 1990 Commonwealth Games in his home city of Auckland.

Even if Walker did finish 12th and last in 3min 53.77sec – a time he would have regarded as slow for a mile when he was in his pomp.

Walker was 38 at the time, but the reason for his anti-climactic showing was a collision after a lap and a half with Australia’s accident-prone Pat Scammell that obliged both men to pick themselves up off the track and set off in pursuit of the distant pack.

Afterwards the winner, England’s Peter Elliott, delayed his victory lap around the Mount Smart Stadium track, returning to speak to the taller athlete in black who had just crossed the line.

"I didn’t see what happened but I heard the crowd and I knew something had gone wrong," Elliott said afterwards.

"I admire John a lot for the competitor he is and for what he’s done for athletics, At first he didn’t want to do it, but I was honoured he went round with me."

Walker, for his part, was similarly gracious. "I’m glad Peter Elliott won," he said. "He prepared perfectly and you couldn’t meet a nicer guy.

"It is only a matter of time before he breaks the world record.  He has been in the shadow of Coe, Cram and Ovett but he has now come of age. He can go on to greatness."

As it turned out, injury and ill fortune prevented Elliott from reaping any other grand benefits from his talent and character, and he retired in 1992.

Walker? Well he kept on running, ending his racing career with a total of 135 - 135! - sub-four minute miles.

Among those who know him in the sport. mention of Walker’s name prompts immediate warmth and affection. He was a runner who inspired the generation that eventually found the way to beat him - the likes of Coe, Steve Ovett, Steve Cram and Elliott. Listening to those who were there when he was in his pomp, it seems like he was the rock star of athletics.

I recall speaking to him shortly before those Commonwealth Games in Auckland after I had travelled with several press colleagues 30 kilometres or so outside the city for a minor meeting where Walker was due to be running a warm-up race.

The nation’s darling wasn’t in the field. But he was there, watching. And he was happy to chat, admitting with a pained smile that his running plans had been temporarily undermined because he had been kicked by one of the horses he owned while he was working in the stables.

Unusual. Unique, truth to tell.

In 1996, Walker announced that he was suffering from Parkinson’s disease. More than 20 years on, he operates an equestrian shop in Auckland with his wife, and has served three consecutive terms on Auckland Council.

Here is a man who never stands still. Unless, of course, we are talking about his statue…