Juan van Deventer

Juan Pierre van Deventer (born 26 March 1983) is a South African middle-distance runner, who represented his country at the 2008 Summer Olympics and the 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships.

He won the bronze medal in the 1500 metres at the 2008 African Championships in Athletics. Later that year, he became the first South African man to reach the Olympic 1500 m final at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, where he finished sixth. He has a 1500 m personal best of 3:34.46 and he is also the South African record holder in the 3000 metres with a time of 7:41.06 set in Stockholm in 2008.

Juan finished second in his indoor debut at the International PSD Bank Meeting in Düsseldorf, Germany in February 2010 also setting a new national 1500 m record of 3 min 37.25 sec – a record previously set by Sydney Maree 31 years ago in a time of 3 min 38.2 sec. He reached the 1500 m final at the 2010 World Indoor Championships and finished sixth.

In October 2022, van Deventer and his family emigrated to Australia. They travelled to the country on a sponsored visa after his wife was offered work as a teacher at an early learning centre in the regional city of Rockhampton, Queensland where he also obtained employment as a financial advisor.

Competition record