David Fitzsimons (23 April 1950 – 7 September 2008)[1] was a former Australian Olympic athlete who competed in middle distance events and civil engineer.
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | David Thomas Fitzsimons | ||||||||||||||
| Nationality | Australian | ||||||||||||||
| Born | 23 April 1950 Victor Harbor, South Australia | ||||||||||||||
| Died | 7 September 2008 (aged 58) North Adelaide, South Australia | ||||||||||||||
| Alma mater | University of Adelaide | ||||||||||||||
| Occupation | Civil engineer | ||||||||||||||
| Employer | Department of Transport, Energy and Infrastructure | ||||||||||||||
| Spouse |
Marjorie Dee (m. 1977) | ||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||
| Sport | athletics | ||||||||||||||
| Event | running | ||||||||||||||
| University team | Adelaide University Athletics Club | ||||||||||||||
| Retired | 1980 | ||||||||||||||
| Achievements and titles | |||||||||||||||
| Olympic finals |
| ||||||||||||||
| World finals | 1977 Dusseldorf World Cup 5000 m – Bronze | ||||||||||||||
| Regional finals | 1977 Pacific Conference Games 5000 m – gold | ||||||||||||||
| Commonwealth finals | Competed at 1974 Christchurch and 1978 Edmonton | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
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A member of the Adelaide University Athletics Club, he represented Australia at two Olympic Games and two Commonwealth Games during his career. Inducted into the South Australian Athletics Hall of Fame in 2000. Fitzsimons won eight Australian Championships in Athletics over 5000 metres and 10000 metres including the 5k/10k double on three occasions.[2]
Engineering
editFitzsimons worked for 30 years at the Transport Department of the South Australian Government. He was the supervising engineer of a road bridge which replaced a level crossing on Park Terrace on what became the city ring route of Adelaide. The Park Terrace bridge over the Gawler railway line and interstate freight line is 120 metres long and was constructed in 1990. It was named after Fitzsimons in 2017.[3]
Athletics career record
editDuring his athletics career, Fitzsimons represented Australia at two Olympic Games, two Commonwealth Games and two World Cups.[2]
His greatest international achievement was placing third over 5000 metres at the inaugural IAAF World Cup in 1977.[2]
Statistics
editPersonal Bests[4]
| Event | Performance | Place | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1500m | 3-39.92 | Christchurch, New Zealand | 31 January 1974 |
| 2000m | 5-06.6 | Edmonton, Canada | 2 August 1978 |
| 3000m | 7-48.74 | Gothenburg, Sweden | 16 July 1978 |
| 2 miles | 8-28.0 | Melbourne, Australia | 11 January 1979 |
| 5000m | 13–17.42 | Düsseldorf, Germany | 4 September 1977 |
| 10000m | 28–04.64 | London, Great Britain | 9 September 1977 |
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "The David Fitzsimons Story" (PDF). Athletics South Australia. Retrieved 26 December 2017.
- ^ a b c Athletics Australia profile - Dave Fitzsimons
- ^ Kemp, Miles (26 December 2017). "Olympic Hero's name to span across the ages". The Advertiser.
- ^ Athletics Australia - all time performances Archived 3 February 2009 at the Wayback Machine