Gaston Roelants
Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox sportsperson Gaston, Baron Roelants (born 5 February 1937), is a Belgian 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
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.<ref>Gaston Roelants Template:Webarchive. Sports-reference.com. Retrieved on 12 January 2014.</ref><ref>Template:Cite web. Sporting-heroes.net. Retrieved on 12 January 2014.</ref> He was ranked the world's best steeplechaser five times, in 1962–1965 and 1967.<ref>World Rankings By Nation — Men’s Steeple Template:Webarchive. Track and Field News</ref>
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.<ref>Masterstrack Records analysis, 2003.Template:Dead link</ref>
A major Belgian road race is named after Roelants.<ref>Gaston Roelants race review Template:Webarchive. Sport.be. 20 December 2009.</ref><ref>Sport. Brussels 10K Gaston Roelants. Brussels.be. Retrieved on 12 January 2014.</ref>
References
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Template:Footer Olympic Champions 3000 m Steeplechase Men Template:Footer Olympic Champions Belgium Men Template:Footer Olympic Medalists Belgium Athletics Men Template:Belgian National Sports Merit Award Template:Footer European Champions 3000 m Steeplechase Men Template:Footer International Cross Country Champions Men Template:Japan Championships in Athletics men's steeplechase champions Template:Golden Spike Belgium Template:Authority control
- Pages with broken file links
- 1937 births
- Living people
- People from Bierbeek
- Sportspeople from Flemish Brabant
- Belgian men middle-distance runners
- Belgian men long-distance runners
- Belgian men marathon runners
- Belgian men steeplechase runners
- Olympic men marathon runners
- Olympic men steeplechase runners
- Olympic athletes for Belgium
- Olympic gold medalists for Belgium
- Olympic gold medalists in athletics
- Athletes (track and field) at the 1960 Summer Olympics
- Athletes (track and field) at the 1964 Summer Olympics
- Athletes (track and field) at the 1968 Summer Olympics
- Athletes (track and field) at the 1972 Summer Olympics
- Medalists at the 1964 Summer Olympics
- International Cross Country Championships winners
- European Athletics Championships medalists
- Japan Championships in Athletics winners
- Belgian Athletics Championships winners
- World record setters in the sport of athletics
- Belgian barons
- 20th-century Belgian sportsmen