Dane's Story
Fast Facts
Sport: Athletics
Event: 20km Walk
Olympic History: Rio 2016 (Bronze)
Highlights: 2018 Commonwealth Games champion
Coach: Dave Smith
Year Born: 1992
State Born: Kippa-ring, QLD
About Dane
You would have assumed Rio Olympic race-walking medallist Dane Bird-Smith followed his father, Dave Smith, a dual Olympic race walker into the sport. But not so.
From that introduction, race walking did become more prominent, but Bird-Smith remained involved in many sports, especially AFL where he played at state level.
Bird-Smith’s father was a modern-day pioneer of race walking in Australia, competing in the inaugural World Race Walking Championships (in 1979) and the first world championships 20km walk (in 1983).
He also competed at the 1980 Moscow Olympics, where on exactly the same course 33 years later, his son would make his senior debut at a major global meet – the world championships.
In both their pet distance of the 20km walk, Dave, who is also Dane's coach, remains six seconds faster than his son, and on the Australian all-time list as they sit four and five respectively.
Early on in his athletics career, Dane Bird-Smith was a sprinter and even won a national medal as part of Queensland’s schools 4x400m relay team.
He made his junior international debut at 17, where he placed eighth at the World Youth (U18) Championships and the next year, placed fifth at the World Juniors.
At the Rio Olympics in 2016, he won bronze in the 20km walk and two years later, in his hometown of the Gold Coast, he won gold at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
In 2019, Bird-Smith he broke his silence about his own mental health struggles which came to a head in 2017. His wife Katy intervened, and he sought help. He is now an advocate for good mental health.
Bird-Smith will make his second Olympic appearance at Tokyo 2020 in 2021, where he will again contest the 20km walk.
