Dick Quax

Medal record
Men's Athletics
Competitor for New Zealand
Olympic Games
Silver	1976 Montreal	5000 metres
Commonwealth Games
Silver	1970 Edinburgh	1500 metres

Theodorus Jacobus Leonardus "Dick" Quax (born January 1, 1948 in Alkmaar, Netherlands) is a New Zealand runner and former world record holder in the 5000 metres. He stood for Parliament with the ACT Party in 1999 and 2002. He served as a Manukau City councillor from 2001 to 2007, when he stood unsuccessfully for mayor.

Athletic career

At the 1970 British Commonwealth Games, Quax won the silver medal in the 1500 metres. He competed in the 5000 metres at the 1972 Summer Olympics but was eliminated in the heats. Quax won silver in the 5000 metres at the 1976 Summer Olympics.

In 1977 at Stockholm, Sweden he set a new world record time of 13m 12.9s in the 5000 metres. This record would stand less than a year, but as a national record it stood for over 31 years, until beaten by Adrian Blincoe in July 2008.

Early in 1980, at the Stanford Stadium track, Quax just missed Jos Hermens' 15K World Record by five seconds, running a New Zealand national record of 43:01.7

In his later career Quax switched his focus to the marathon, running a 2:11:13 in his debut marathon for 4th place at the Nike/OTC Marathon race in 1979, at that time the fastest debut marathon in history. In 1980 he returned and won the race in a New Zealand record time of 2:10:47 He did not compete in the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow due to the West's boycott.

Personal bests

Distance	Time	Place	Date
5000 m	13:12.87	Stockholm	1977
10000 m	27:41.95 NR	London	1977

Politician

In October 2001 Quax was elected to the Manukau City Council from the Pakuranga ward and subsequently re-elected in 2004 to represent the new Botany-Clevedon ward after a failed bid for the Manukau mayoralty. He is also a member of the ACT Party having stood as a list candidate in the 1999 and 2002 general elections.

On 13 October 2007 Dick Quax lost his bid to become mayor of Manukau to Len Brown by 14,000 votes. During this election, Quax complained to the electoral office over an "offensive flyer" depicting him and members of his People's Choice party as the Thunderbirds. His complaint was not upheld as there was no evidence to suggest who had posted the flyers.

Auckland Council
Years	Ward	Affiliation
2011–2012	Howick	Citizens & Ratepayers

Quax stood with Jami-Lee Ross for Citizens & Ratepayers in the 2010 Auckland Council elections. Quax missed out on a seat, losing to Ross by 253 votes. In 2011 Quax was elected to the council after a by election was held in Howick due to Ross resigning after becoming a Member of Parliament.

External links

• Page with photo, one of two at Sporting Heroes

References

Records
Preceded by Emiel Puttemans	Men's 5000m World Record Holder July 5, 1977 – April 8, 1978	Succeeded by Henry Rono
Sporting positions
Preceded by Emiel Puttemans	Men's 5.000m Best Year Performance 1976 — 1977	Succeeded by Henry Rono