 Gaston Roelants in 1968 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | Belgian |
| Born | (1937-02-05)5 February 1937 (age 88) 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 | |
| Personalbest(s) | 3000 m Steeplechase – 8:26.4 (1965) marathon – 2:16:30 (1974) |
Gaston, Baron Roelants (born 5 February 1937), is a Belgian former elitesteeplechaser andcross country runner. He won the 1962 European and1964 Olympic titles in the3000 m steeplechase and twice broke the world record.
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 Europeanmarathon 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 themasters category and held the masters world record in the steeplechase for 27 years.[4]
A major Belgianroad race is named after Roelants.[5][6]
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link). Sporting-heroes.net. Retrieved on 12 January 2014.| Records | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Men's 3000 m steeplechase world record holder 7 September 1963 – 17 July 1968 | Succeeded by |
| 2500 m |
|
|---|---|
| 4000 m |
|
| 2590 m |
|
| 3200 m | |
| 3460 m | |
| 3000 m |
|
 Belgium at the Olympics – Post-war Belgian Olympic champions (men) | |
|---|---|
|
European Athletics Championships champions in men's3000 metres steeplechase | |
|---|---|
|
