David Fitzsimons

David Fitzsimons
Personal information
Full nameDavid Thomas Fitzsimons
NationalityAustralian
Born23 April 1950
Victor Harbor, South Australia
Died7 September 2008(2008-09-07) (aged 58)
North Adelaide, South Australia
Alma materUniversity of Adelaide
OccupationCivil engineer
EmployerDepartment of Transport, Energy and Infrastructure
Spouse
Marjorie Dee
​
(m. 1977)​
Sport
Sportathletics
Eventrunning
University teamAdelaide University Athletics Club
Retired1980
Achievements and titles
Olympic finals
World finals1977 Dusseldorf World Cup 5000 m – Bronze
Regional finals1977 Pacific Conference Games 5000 m – gold
Commonwealth finalsCompeted at 1974 Christchurch and 1978 Edmonton
Medal record
Men's Athletics
Representing  Australia
IAAF World Cup
Bronze medal – third place 1977 Düsseldorf 5000 metres

David Fitzsimons (23 April 1950 – 7 September 2008)[1] was a former Australian Olympic athlete who competed in middle distance events and civil engineer.

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

Fitzsimons 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

During 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

Personal 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

References

  1. ^ "The David Fitzsimons Story" (PDF). Athletics South Australia. Retrieved 26 December 2017.
  2. ^ a b c Athletics Australia profile - Dave Fitzsimons
  3. ^ Kemp, Miles (26 December 2017). "Olympic Hero's name to span across the ages". The Advertiser.
  4. ^ Athletics Australia - all time performances Archived 3 February 2009 at the Wayback Machine