Aad Steylen

Adrianus Johannes Steylen (born 1 August 1935) is a Dutch former long-distance runner. He is a five times Dutch marathon champion, who enhanced the Dutch record five times. He was also a four-time winner of the 25-kilometre race and a one-time champion of the 800 metres distance at the Dutch Championships. In 1968, he represented his country in the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico.[1] In the 1970s he worked as national coach for the Royal Dutch Athletic Union (KNAU).[2]

Aad Steylen
Aad Steylen in 1967
Personal information
Born (1935-08-01) 1 August 1935
Schiebroek, the Netherlands
Height1.84 m (6 ft 0 in)
Weight70 kg (150 lb)
Sport
SportLong-distance running
ClubASV, Eibergen
Achievements and titles
Olympic finals1976

From the age of 16 Steylen was active in track and field events, especially the field events belonging to the decathlon. In his junior time, he became Dutch javelin throw champion and won a silver medal in the pole vault event. Afterwards he specialised in the middle distance running events and obtained his first success when becoming Dutch 800 metres champion in 1961.

As a result of his regular endurance training sessions, Steylen started to give preference to long distance running. He decided to try to run the marathon, but his first acquaintance with this event ended up in a disappointment, as he finished the race in 2 hours and 45 minutes. Then he decided to specialise and became a five times Dutch champion. He was also the first Dutchman to break through the 2 hours and 20 minutes barrier: on 12 May 1968 he finished a marathon in Husum in 2:19:07.1,[3] improving on his former national record by more than three minutes. That same year he participated in the olympic marathon in Mexico City, finishing 27th in 2:37:42, being the 11th European.[1]

Steylen participated in the Berlin Marathon of 2003 at age 68, finishing in only three hours and 15 minutes.[4] Steylen is a vegetarian.[5]

References
  1. Aad Steylen. sports-reference.com
  2. Spiering, Peter (24 December 2007). "Aad Steylen: de eerste Nederlander onder 2u20" (in Dutch). The Maze Corporation. Retrieved 27 May 2008.
  3. World Marathon Rankings for 1968 on www.arrs.run
  4. Spiering, Peter (19 June 2004). "De geschiedenis van RAV Metro" (in Dutch). Retrieved 15 April 2009.
  5. Toorn-Van Dam, Martine van den (1970). "De waarheid over het vegetarisme" (in Dutch) (3rd ed.). Emmen (Netherlands): Stichting De Ark (published 1974). Cite journal requires |journal= (help)

Further reading
  • Heere, A. and Kappenburg, B. (2000) 1870–2000, 130 jaar atletiek in Nederland Groenevelt b.v. ISBN 90-901286-7-0
  • Brink, C. v. d. and Kerkhof, B. (2009) Helden van de 42 kilometer De Arbeiderspers/Het Sporthuis ISBN 978-90-295-7180-7/ NUR 480
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