Personal information | ||||||||||||
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Birth name | Nicholas Napier Birks | |||||||||||
Nationality | Australian | |||||||||||
Born | (1938-06-04) 4 June 1938 (age 86) | |||||||||||
Sport | ||||||||||||
Country | Australia | |||||||||||
Sport | Athletics | |||||||||||
Event | Javelin / Decathlon | |||||||||||
Medal record
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Nicholas Napier Birks (born 4 June 1938) is an Australian former athlete active in the 1950s and 1960s.
An old boy of St Peter's College in Adelaide, Birks is the great-grandson of the founder of Charles Birks & Co, a former department store on Rundle Street. He was a nine-time national champion in the javelin and won three national titles in the decathlon. In 1961 he set a British Empire record in the javelin with a throw of 252 ft 4 inches in Sydney.
Birks featured in three editions of the British Empire and Commonwealth Games, the first in Cardiff in 1958, where he was ninth in the javelin. He won bronze in the javelin in 1962 and silver at the same event in 1966.
References
- "N. Birks Retains Decathlon Title". The Canberra Times. 22 March 1962. p. 36 – via National Library of Australia.
- "Javelin Throw Record Set". The Canberra Times. 27 February 1961. p. 16 – via National Library of Australia.
- "Unknown Kenyan beats Clarke in six-miler". The Canberra Times. 8 August 1966. p. 14 – via National Library of Australia.
External links
- Nick Birks at the Commonwealth Games Federation (archived)
- 1938 births
- Living people
- Australian male javelin throwers
- Australian decathletes
- Athletes (track and field) at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games
- Athletes (track and field) at the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games
- Athletes (track and field) at the 1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games
- Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics
- Commonwealth Games silver medallists for Australia
- Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for Australia
- People educated at St Peter's College, Adelaide
- Athletes from Adelaide
- Medallists at the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games
- Medallists at the 1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games
- Sportsmen from South Australia
- Australian Athletics Championships winners
- 20th-century Australian sportsmen