Nick Birks Explained

Birth Name:Nicholas Napier Birks
Nationality:Australian
Birth Date:4 June 1938
Sport:Athletics
Event:Javelin / Decathlon

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.[1] In 1961 he set a British Empire record in the javelin with a throw of 252 ft 4 inches in Sydney.[2]

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.[3]

Notes and References

  1. News: N. Birks Retains Decathlon Title . . 22 March 1962 . 36 . National Library of Australia.
  2. News: Javelin Throw Record Set . . 27 February 1961 . 16 . National Library of Australia.
  3. News: Unknown Kenyan beats Clarke in six-miler . . 8 August 1966 . 14 . National Library of Australia.