Robert de Castella

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Robert de Castella MBE (born February 27, 1957) was a world champion marathon runner. He is popularly known as "Deek" or "Deeks". His strong marathon performances in 1981-83 made him the favourite for the marathon at the 1984 Summer Olympics, at a time when Australia had few prospects for Olympic gold.

[edit] Achievements in sport

1979 - won the Victorian Championship and the Australian marathon title.
1980 - 10th in the 1980 Summer Olympics marathon in Moscow.
1981 - won the Fukuoka marathon in 2h 08'18" (world record from 1981 to 1984)
1982 - won the 1982 Commonwealth Games marathon in Brisbane in 2h 09'18"
1983 - won the Rotterdam Marathon in 2h 08'37"
1983 - won the 1983 World Championships in Athletics marathon in Helsinki in 2h 10'03" (becoming Australia's first world champion in the sport).
1984 - 5th in the Olympic Marathon in Los Angeles.
1984 - 3rd in the Chicago marathon in 2h 09'09"
1985 - 3rd in the Chicago marathon in 2h 08'48"
1986 - won the 1986 Commonwealth Games marathon in Edinburgh in 2h 10'15"
1986 - won the Boston marathon in 2h 07'51"
1988 - 4th in the Tokyo marathon in 2h 08'49"
1988 - 8th in the 1988 Summer Olympics marathon in Seoul.
1991 - won the Rotterdam marathon in 2h 09'42"

[edit] Other awards

1983 - awarded the Australian of the Year

He retired from the sport in 1993.

He was married to runner Gaylene Clews. He has been part of a long-running advertising campaign for the multi-vitamin tablet "Centrum".

De Castella was director of the Australian Institute of Sport, 1990-95. He resigned to become executive director of Focus On You

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Preceded by Sir Edward Williams	Australian of the Year 1983	Succeeded by Lois O'Donoghue
Preceded by Rodolfo Gómez	Rotterdam Marathon Winner 1983	Succeeded by Gidamis Shahanga
Preceded by Hiromi Taniguchi	Rotterdam Marathon Winner 1991	Succeeded by Salvador García