Gaston Roelants

Gaston Roelants

Gaston Roelants in 1968
Personal information
Nationality	Belgian
Born	(1937-02-05) 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)
Medal record Representing  Belgium Olympic Games 1964 Tokyo 3000 m steeplechase European Championships 1962 Belgrade 3000 m steeplechase 1969 Athens Marathon 1966 Budapest 3000 m steeplechase 1974 Rome Marathon

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

Gaston Roelants in 1967

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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