De Castella, Robert (1957-…), an Australian athlete, is the greatest marathon runner in Australian track history. De Castella won the marathon at the Commonwealth Games in 1982 and 1986. He finished fifth in the 1984 Olympic marathon. De Castella won the marathon at the World Athletics Championships in 1983 and the Boston Marathon in 1986. He was voted the world’s best marathon runner of the 1980’s.
De Castella was born on Feb. 27, 1957, in Melbourne. He began running the marathon in 1979 and made his Olympic debut in 1980, finishing 10th. He won his first marathon in 1981, setting a world record at the Fukuoka Marathon in Japan. De Castella was named Australian of the Year in 1983. He retired from the sport in 1993. De Castella directed the Australian Institute of Sport from 1990 to 1995. Since then, he has been involved in many health programs, such as fighting children’s obesity.
