Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Full name | Daniel Clark | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | George Town, Tasmania, Australia | 30 August 1951|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Team information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Discipline | Track | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Role | Rider | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Major wins | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
European championships:
Omnium 1978, 1979, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1988 Derny 1985, 1986, 1990 Motor-paced 1988 Madison 1979, 1988 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Daniel "Danny" Clark OAM[1] (born 30 August 1951[2] in George Town, Tasmania, Australia) is a retired track cyclist and road bicycle racer from Australia, who was a professional rider from 1974 to 1997. He won five world championships and at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany, came second in the 1,000m time trial.[3]
Clark was often fastest finishing rider in six-day races, especially as Patrick Sercu slowed after the mid-1970s. Clark and the British rider, Tony Doyle, won many six-day races. Clark enjoyed the party atmosphere of the races, and continued to work in them as a Derny pacer after retiring.
Clark began cycling on a bike borrowed from a local enthusiast, which he used for three months before acquiring his eldest brother's semi-racer.[4] He became one of the most successful riders in six-day racing in the 1970s and 1980s, winning 74 races, second to Patrick Sercu's 88. Most of these wins came after a crash in the 1983 Frankfurt six-day which broke his hip. Clark still carries a plate inserted to help the fracture heal and said that when sprinting or climbing, only his right leg delivered full power.[4]
Clark won the Australian one-mile penny-farthing championship in Evandale, Tasmania, in 1989, beating the Briton Doug Pinkerton and Matthew Driver.[5]
He lives in Surfers Paradise, near Brisbane.[5]
Clark received a Medal of the Order of Australia in 1986[1] and was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1987.[6] He received an Australian Sports Medal and a Centenary Medal in 2001.[7][8]