David McNeill (born 6 October 1986 in

East Melbourne East Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne local government area. East Melbourne recorded a population of 4,896 at the 2021 ...

) is an Australian long-distance runner. He was selected for the Tokyo

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

, McNeill finished 8th in his heat of the Men's 5000m in a time of 13:39.97. He was therefore eliminated.

Early years

McNeill was just 10-years-old when he started cross-country running. He had a natural ability and decided to focus on long-distance running full-time. He made his international debut in 2004 at the Commonwealth Youth (U18) Games running in the 3000m. After graduating from

Xavier College Xavier College is a Roman Catholic, day and boarding school predominantly for boys, founded in 1872 by the Society of Jesus, with its main campus located in Kew, an eastern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Classes started in 1878. Th ...

in Kew Melbourne McNeill went to

Northern Arizona University Northern Arizona University (NAU) is a public research university based in Flagstaff, Arizona. It was founded in 1899 as the final public university established in the Arizona Territory, 13 years before Arizona was admitted as the 48th state. ...

where he excelled. He was twice named to

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

magazine's NCAA All-Academic First Team. In 2009 he was named the Division I Scholar-Athlete of the Year. He is presently a member of the Old Xaverians Athletics Club.

Achievements

At the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

, he competed in the Men's 5000 metres, finishing 28th overall in Round 1, failing to qualify for the final. On 2 May 2015, David ran a qualifying time of 27:45.01 to the

2015 World Championships in Athletics The 2015 IAAF World Championships ( zh, 第十五届世界田径锦标赛), the fifteenth edition of the IAAF World Championships, were held from 22 to 30 August at the National Stadium in Beijing, China. Forty-three nations won medals, 144 of ...

and

Athletics at the 2016 Summer Olympics Athletics at the 2016 Summer Olympics were held during the last 10 days of the games, from 12 to 21 August 2016, at the Olympic Stadium. The sport of athletics at the 2016 Summer Olympics was made into three distinct sets of events: track and ...

by finishing 4th at

Payton Jordan Payton Jordan (March 19, 1917 – February 5, 2009) was the head coach of the 1968 United States Olympic track and field team, one of the most powerful track teams ever assembled, which won a record twenty-four medals, including twelve golds. ...

Invitational 10 km. At the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

in Rio, David finished 16th in the 10,000m final in a time of 27:51.71.

References

External links

David McNeill
at

Athletics Australia Athletics Australia is the national sporting organisation (NSO) recognised by Sport Australia for the sport of athletics in Australia. First founded in 1897, the organisation is responsible for administering a sport with over 16,000 registered ...

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mcneill, David 1986 births Living people Australian male long-distance runners Olympic athletes of Australia Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2010 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics World Athletics Championships athletes for Australia Athletes from Melbourne People educated at Xavier College Commonwealth Games competitors for Australia Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics People from East Melbourne