Gaston Roelants
| File:Gaston Roelants 1968.jpg
Gaston Roelants in 1968
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| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | Belgian |
| Born | 5 February 1937 Opvelp, Belgium |
| Height | 1.74 m (5 ft 9 in) |
| Weight | 67 kg (148 lb) |
| Sport | |
| Country | Belgium |
| Sport | Athletics |
| Event(s) | Steeplechase, marathon |
| Club | DC Leuven |
| Retired | 1976 |
| Achievements and titles | |
| Personal best(s) | 3000 m – 8:26.4 (1965) marathon – 2:16:30 (1974) |
Gaston, Baron Roelants (born 5 February 1937) is a former elite steeplechaser and cross country runner. He won the 1962 European and 1964 Olympic titles in the 3000 m steeplechase and twice broke the world record.
Biography
Roelants finished fourth in the steeplechase at the 1960 Olympics, and after winning a bronze medal at the 1966 European Championships he successfully turned to longer distances, setting world records in the 20 km (58 minutes 6.2 seconds) and in the 1 hour race (20,664 m) that year. In 1972 he improved those records to 57 minutes 44.4 seconds and 20,878 meters. He won a silver (1969) and a bronze (1974) medal in European marathon races.[1][2] He was ranked the world's best steeplechaser five times, in 1962–1965 and 1967.[3]
Roelants also won four international cross country titles (1962, 1967, 1969 and 1972) with three second places between 1960 and 1975. His long career continued into his 40s. Later he won five world titles in the masters category and held the masters world record in the steeplechase for 27 years.[4]
A major Belgian road race is named after Roelants.[5][6]
References
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| Preceded by | Men's 3000 m steeplechase world record holder 7 September 1963 – 17 July 1968 |
Succeeded by Jouko Kuha |
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European Athletics Championships champions in men's 3000 metres steeplechase
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- ↑ Gaston Roelants. Sports-reference.com. Retrieved on 12 January 2014.
- ↑ Gaston Roelant at the Wayback Machine (archived June 5, 2011). Sporting-heroes.net. Retrieved on 12 January 2014.
- ↑ World Rankings By Nation — Men’s Steeple. Track and Field News
- ↑ Masterstrack Records analysis, 2003.[dead link]
- ↑ Gaston Roelants race review. Sport.be. 20 December 2009.
- ↑ Sport. Brussels 10K Gaston Roelants. Brussels.be. Retrieved on 12 January 2014.
- Pages with reference errors
- Use dmy dates from January 2014
- Pages with broken file links
- Commons category link from Wikidata
- 1937 births
- Living people
- Athletes (track and field) at the 1960 Summer Olympics
- Athletes (track and field) at the 1964 Summer Olympics
- Athletes (track and field) at the 1968 Summer Olympics
- Athletes (track and field) at the 1972 Summer Olympics
- Olympic athletes of Belgium
- Olympic gold medalists for Belgium
- Barons of Belgium
- Belgian middle-distance runners
- Belgian long-distance runners
- Male middle-distance runners
- Male long-distance runners
- Male steeplechase runners
- Former world record holders in athletics (track and field)
- Olympic medalists in athletics (track and field)
- Belgian marathon runners
- Belgian steeplechase runners
- European Athletics Championships medalists
- People from Bierbeek
- Articles with dead external links from January 2014
