Theodorus Jacobus Leonardus "Dick" Quax (1 January 1948 – 28 May 2018) was a Dutch-born New Zealand

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, one-time

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book '' Guinness World Records'' and other world records organizati ...

holder in the

5000 metres The 5000 metres or 5000-metre run is a common long-distance running event in track and field, approximately equivalent to or . It is one of the track events in the Olympic Games and the World Championships in Athletics, run over laps of a sta ...

, and local-body

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

. Quax stood for

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for the ACT Party in 1999 and 2002. He was a Manukau City

councillor A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries. Canada Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...

from 2001 to 2007, when he stood unsuccessfully for

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well as ...

, and was a councillor on the

Auckland Council Auckland Council ( mi, Te Kaunihera o Tāmaki Makaurau) is the local government council for the Auckland Region in New Zealand. It is a territorial authority that has the responsibilities, duties and powers of a regional council and so is a ...

from 2011 until his death in 2018.

Athletic career

Quax won four New Zealand national athletics titles: the 5000 m in 1972, 1973, and 1974; and the one mile in 1969. At the

1970 British Commonwealth Games The 1970 British Commonwealth Games (Scottish Gaelic: Geamannan a 'Cho-fhlaitheis Bhreatainn 1970) were held in Edinburgh, Scotland, from 16 to 25 July 1970. This was the first time the name British Commonwealth Games was adopted, the first tim ...

, Quax won the

silver medal A silver medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, e ...

in the

1500 metres The 1500 metres or 1,500-metre run (typically pronounced 'fifteen-hundred metres') is the foremost middle distance track event in athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Championships in Athle ...

. In the 5000 m, at the

1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 (german: München 1972), was an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972 ...

he was eliminated in the heats, but he won silver in

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phil ...

. He did not compete in 1980 in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

due to the West's boycott. In 1977 at Stockholm Quax set a world record of 13:12.9 in the 5000 m. This record stood for 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

Stanford Stadium Stanford Stadium is an outdoor college football stadium on the west coast of the United States, located on the campus of Stanford University in Stanford, California. It is the home of the Stanford Cardinal and hosts the university's commencem ...

Quax missed Jos Hermens' 15 km 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 The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair di ...

, running 2:11.13 in his debut for 4th place at the

Nike OTC Marathon The Nike OTC Marathon (sometimes styled "Nike/Oregon Track Club Marathon") was a marathon held annually from 1973–1984 in Eugene, Oregon. It was organized by the Oregon Track Club (OTC) and sponsored by Nike, Inc., Nike. The women's world record ...

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. After retiring from competition, Quax established a career in sports management. He also coached his son, Theo, the New Zealand U18 and U20 Champion for 1500 m.

Personal bests

Political career

Quax was a member of the ACT Party and stood in the in the electorate but was unsuccessful. He was ranked 11th on the ACT

party list An electoral list is a grouping of candidates for election, usually found in proportional or mixed electoral systems, but also in some plurality electoral systems. An electoral list can be registered by a political party (a party list) or can ...

, which was too low to be elected from the list, as only the first 9 candidates got returned. He stood again in the 2002 general election. In October 2001 Quax was elected to the Manukau City Council for the Pakuranga ward and was re-elected in 2004 to represent the new Botany-Clevedon ward after a failed bid for the Manukau City mayoralty. On 13 October 2007 Quax lost his bid to become mayor of Manukau City to

Len Brown Leonard Charles Brown (born 1 October 1956)) is a former mayor of Auckland, New Zealand, and former head of the Auckland Council. He won the 2010 Auckland mayoral election on 9 October 2010 and was sworn in as Mayor of Auckland on 1 Novemb ...

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. Quax stood for Citizens & Ratepayers in the 2010 Auckland Council elections, losing to Jami-Lee Ross by 253 votes. In 2011 Quax was elected to the

council A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or nati ...

after a by-election was held in Howick due to Ross resigning after becoming a

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house ...

. He was re-elected unopposed in

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment ...

. During the 2013 Len Brown mayoral scandal, Quax took the opportunity for political payback against Brown, leading the call for him to resign for not declaring hotel upgrades as gifts. It emerged that Quax had also not filed returns on the gifts he had received during the previous term. Quax was re-elected in the 2016 Auckland elections. In his tenure as councilor, he opposed high density housing and public transportation, and supported selling Auckland's council-owned water and wastewater supplier Watercare Services. While originally opposing the council's proposed Unitary Plan, Quax later supported the plan in full. Quax was described by ''

The New Zealand Herald ''The New Zealand Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Auckland, New Zealand, owned by New Zealand Media and Entertainment, and considered a newspaper of record for New Zealand. It has the largest newspaper circulation of all newspaper ...

'' as "right wing".

"Quaxing"

Quax tweeted in January 2015 about his disbelief that anyone in the Western world would go shopping by means of "walking,

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, or

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users responded by creating the

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"#quaxing". The Public Address website voted "quaxing" as its word of the year 2015, followed by " Red Peak" and "twitterati".

Personal life

Quax and his family arrived in New Zealand from the Netherlands on 10 October 1954. According to an interview in the ''

New Zealand Listener The ''New Zealand Listener'' is a weekly New Zealand magazine that covers the political, cultural and literary life of New Zealand by featuring a variety of topics, including current events, politics, social issues, health, technology, arts, f ...

'' the family had travelled on the same ship as former Race Relations Commissioner Joris de Bres. Quax became a

naturalised Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the in ...

New Zealander in 1969. Quax married three times, his third marriage being to Roxanne in August 1991. He had three children, with Theo being on the NAU Lumberjacks cross country team.

Illness and death

It was revealed on 27 November 2013 that Quax had been undergoing treatment for throat cancer, which had been diagnosed two months earlier. Quax died of cancer in Auckland on 28 May 2018, aged 70.

References

External links

* * , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Quax, Dick 1948 births 2018 deaths Dutch emigrants to New Zealand Olympic athletes of New Zealand Olympic silver medalists for New Zealand New Zealand male middle-distance runners New Zealand male long-distance runners Athletes (track and field) at the 1972 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1976 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1970 British Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1978 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games silver medallists for New Zealand Sportspeople from Alkmaar New Zealand sportsperson-politicians ACT New Zealand politicians Auckland Councillors Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics Manukau City Councillors Unsuccessful candidates in the 1999 New Zealand general election Unsuccessful candidates in the 2002 New Zealand general election People educated at Hamilton Boys' High School Deaths from throat cancer Medalists at the 1976 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists in athletics (track and field) 21st-century New Zealand politicians New Zealand male cross country runners Naturalised citizens of New Zealand Deaths from cancer in New Zealand