Juan Pierre van Deventer (born 26 March 1983) is a South African middle distance runner, who represented his country at the 2008 Summer Olympics and the 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships.
He won the bronze medal in the 1500 metres at the 2008 African Championships in Athletics. Later that year, he became the first South African man to reach the Olympic 1500 m final at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, where he finished sixth.[1] He has a 1500 m personal best of 3:34.46 and he is also the South African record holder in the 3000 metres with a time of 7:41.06 set in Stockholm in 2008.[2]
Juan finished second in his indoor debut at the International PSD Bank Meeting in Düsseldorf, Germany in February 2010 also setting a new national 1500 m record of 3 min 37.25 sec – a record previously set by Sydney Maree 31 years ago in a time of 3 min 38.2 sec. He reached the 1500 m final at the 2010 World Indoor Championships and finished sixth.[3]
In October 2022, van Deventer and his family emigrated to Australia.[4] They travelled to the country on a sponsored visa after his wife was offered work as a teacher at an early learning centre in the regional city of Rockhampton, Queensland where he also obtained employment as a financial advisor.[4] In May 2023, van Deventer won the half marathon event at the Rocky River Run.[5]
Competition record
edit| Year | Competition | Venue | Position | Event | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Representing  South Africa
| |||||
| 2005 | Universiade | İzmir, Turkey | 7th | 800 m | 1:48.50 |
| 2006 | African Championships | Bambous, Mauritius | 9th | 1500 m | 3:50.60 |
| 2007 | All-Africa Games | Algiers, Algeria | 7th | 1500 m | 3:40.48 |
| Universiade | Bangkok, Thailand | 12th | 1500 m | 3:55.18 | |
| 2008 | African Championships | Addis Ababa, Ethiopia | 3rd | 1500 m | 3:43.63 |
| Olympic Games | Beijing, China | 6th | 1500 m | 3:34.77 | |
| 2010 | World Indoor Championships | Doha, Qatar | 6th | 1500 m | 3:43.77 |
| African Championships | Nairobi, Kenya | 6th | 1500 m | 3:37.99 | |
| 2012 | African Championships | Porto-Novo, Benin | 8th | 1500 m | 3:40.80 |
References
edit- ^ EVENT REPORT – MEN’s 1500m Heats Archived 8 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine. Doha World Indoor Championships. Retrieved on 2010-11-06.
- ^ Van Deventer sets SA record. News24 (22 July 2008). Retrieved on 2010-11-06.
- ^ International Association of Athletics Federations. Retrieved 5 February 2010.
- ^ a b Culliver, Paul (22 May 2023). "Breakfast (full program, timestamp: 1:17:08)". ABC Capricornia. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 22 May 2023. Retrieved 22 May 2023.
My family emigrated to Australia in October last year, so we're eight months fresh in Australia and enjoying it... We're based here in Rockhampton. I work at Soundbridge Financial Services and my wife is a teacher at Skippy's Early Learning Centre... We came over here on a sponsorship visa. My wife got an opportunity at Skippy's Early Learning Centre as a teacher which are in demand in Australia at the moment and I also got offered a position as a financial advisor at Soundbridge so that's how I ended up here.
- ^ "Advance Rockhampton 1/2 marathon". 7Rocky River Run. RaceTec. 21 May 2023. Retrieved 22 May 2023.
Pos 1; Race no 218, Name: Juan Van Deventer; Time: 01:12:09
