David Fitzsimons (23 April 1950 – 7 September 2008) was a former

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

athlete who competed in middle distance events and

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing ...

. A member of the Adelaide University Athletics Club, he represented Australia at two

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

and two

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...

during his career. Inducted into the South Australian Athletics Hall of Fame in 2000. Fitzsimons won eight

Australian Championships in Athletics The Australian Athletics Championships or Australian Open Track and Field Championships are held annually to determine Australia's champion athletes in a range of athletics events. The championships are the primary qualification trial for athlete ...

over

5000 metres The 5000 metres or 5000-metre run is a common long-distance running event in track and field, approximately equivalent to or . It is one of the track events in the Olympic Games and the World Championships in Athletics, run over laps of a stan ...

and 10000 metres including the 5k/10k double on three occasions.Athletics Australia profile - Dave Fitzsimons
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Engineering

Fitzsimmons worked for 30 years at the

Transport Department The Transport Department of the Government of Hong Kong is a department of the Hong Kong Civil Service, civil service responsible for transportation-related policy in Hong Kong. The department is under the Transport and Logistics Bureau. The Tra ...

of the

South Australian Government The Government of South Australia, also referred to as the South Australian Government, SA Government or more formally, His Majesty’s Government, is the Australian state democratic administrative authority of South Australia. It is modelled o ...

. 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 Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

. 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.

Athletics career record

During his athletics career, Fitzsimons represented Australia at two Olympic Games, two Commonwealth Games and two

World Cups A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

. His greatest international achievement was placing third over 5000 metres at the inaugural

IAAF World Cup The IAAF Continental Cup was an international track and field competition organized by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). The event was proposed by IAAF former President Primo Nebiolo and was first held in 1977 as t ...

in 1977.

Statistics

Personal BestsAthletics Australia - all time performances

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fitzsimons, David 1950 births 2008 deaths Australian male middle-distance runners Athletes (track and field) at the 1976 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1980 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes of Australia Athletes (track and field) at the 1974 British Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1978 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games competitors for Australia Australian civil engineers Sportsmen from South Australia

Engineering

Athletics career record

Statistics

See also

References