David Gillick

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David Gillick (born July 9, 1983 in Dublin) is an Irish international track and field athlete. He studied at Dublin Institute of Technology before moving to Loughborough to train as a full time athlete with coach Nick Dakin. Gillick specializes in the 400 metres and won the European Indoor Championship in 2005 and 2007. He set the Irish Indoor record of 45.52 seconds in the 2007 final. The time also beat the Irish outdoor record of 45.58 and was within the Olympic 'A' qualifying standard for the 2008 Games. On June 9, 2007 he ran 45.23 seconds in a race in Geneva to set a new national record.

1 Career
2 Major Medals
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Career

Gillick first ran for Ireland at the European Athletics U23 Championships in 2003, however it was not a successful international debut for Gillick. At the 2004 IAAF World Indoor Championships Gillick won a bronze medal as part of the Irish 4x400 metres relay team (along with Robert Daly, David McCarthy and Gary Ryan). Despite improving his personal best, Gillick did not qualify for the 2004 Summer Olympics.

When he was young he lived in Ballinteer and played football for Ballinteer St John's GAA Club

In the 2005 European Indoor Championships Gillick produced two outstanding runs to first win his heat and then win the Gold Medal in a personal best time of 46.30, beating the favourite, Spain's David Canal, into second place. It was Ireland's First gold medal in a sprinting event in 75 years. Injury forced Gillick to miss the 2005 World outdoor Championships.

In 2006 Gillick again suffered an injury hit season but did win the Irish national Championship in a time of 45.67. He qualified with ease through the first round at the 2006 European Championships before running poorly in his semi final and being eliminated.

Early in 2007, Gillick ran a time of 45.91s at an indoor meeting in Dusseldorf, a performance which made him the world leader over 400m indoors and bettered the Irish Record, previously held by Belfast's Paul McKee. In March 2007, he successfully defended his European Indoor title, running a new Irish record of 45.52s in the process, again a new Irish record. On June 9, 2007 he ran 45.23 seconds over 400m in Geneva to set a new Irish outdoor record.