Dick Quax

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Medal record
Dick Quax
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, The Netherlands) is a New Zealand runner. Quax, along with John Walker and Rod Dixon, was one of New Zealand's three outstanding distance runners of the 1970s. The trio set the running tracks of Europe ablaze and were responsible for a resurgence of interest in athletics in New Zealand.

Quax emigrated with his family to New Zealand in 1954 and he grew up in Waikato, going to school at Hamilton Boys' High School where he played rugby union and then discovered he had a particular ability for distance running. He was inspired by Peter Snell and Murray Halberg, and remembers travelling to Auckland to watch them race. He latched onto the Lydiard training methods and by the time he was sixteen years old, he was running a hundred miles a week.

In 1968 he asked John Davies, a Lydiard runner, to coach him, and the two formed a bond that existed until Davies' death in 2003. Quax and Davies co-promoted and organised the international track series for a decade and put together other running events, such as business-house races. They formed a company, Athletics Marketing and Management, which Quax took over after Davies' death in 2003.

Quax came to public attention in March 1970, when he ambushed Olympic 1.500 metres champion Kip Keino over a mile in Auckland and defeated him by 30 metres. Later that year at the 1970 British Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, Keino had his revenge over 1500 metres. Quax was the only athlete who stayed with Keino when he broke away. Quax was rewarded for his courage with the silver medal.

For several years he battled shin splints causing him to miss the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich and it wasn't until a revolutionary operation in 1975 proved successful that he was able to train and race relatively injury-free.

The 1976 Montreal Olympic 5000 metres final, which also included Dixon, was his most famous race. It turned out to be a classic and New Zealanders at home watched a dramatic last lap in which Lasse Viren again proved himself supreme, beating Quax by one stride with Dixon just behind, but deprived of the bronze because of a desperate dive by the German, Klaus-Peter Hildenbrand.

In 1976 Quax just missed the 5000 metres world record but the following year, at Stockholm, Sweden, he set a new world record with a time of 13m 12.9s.

Late in his career, Quax devoted himself to the marathon, turning in a brilliant debut time of 2h 11min 13s in the big Nike marathon in Eugene. There was no Olympics in 1980 for New Zealand athletes because of the American-led boycott, but Quax showed what might have been when he ran 2h 10min 47s at Eugene in September, 1980. It was the fastest time ever by a New Zealander.

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 14,00 Votes. During this election, Dick Complained to the electorial office over an "offensive flyer" depicting him and members of his peoples choice party as the Thunderbirds. His complaint was not upheld as there was no evidence to suggest who had posted the flyers.