Simon Baker was born in Melbourne and began his walking career in little athletics, winning the first national little athletics title in 1970.
Subsequently, he joined the Oakleigh Athletic Club in Melbourne and by 1976 had won his first national junior title over 3000 metres.
Simon moved into senior ranks and, come 1983, was amongst the best in the country. That year he finished second in the National 5000 metres track walk and collected another silver in the 20km road walk. He was selected for the 1983 World Race Walking Cup (then known as the Lugano Cup) in Bergen, Norway, where he finished 14th in 1:24:42. Simon was also selected for the first IAAF World Championship in Helsinki, Finland, taking 29th spot in the 20km – in 1:28:09.
Selection honours then kept coming for Simon as he got the call-up for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games after placing third in the selection trial. His significant progress as an international athlete was demonstrated when finishing 14th at the Games.
Simon was awarded an AIS Scholarship in 1985 and moved to Canberra, where he began to be coached by Craig Hilliard. He won his first National 20km title that year and then finished 20th in the Lugano Cup in the Isle of Man in 1:25:30, before a ninth placing at the World University Games in Kobe, Japan in September.
Simon was beginning to belong in the upper echelon of world race walking.
In 1986, he was selected for his first Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, Scotland, with the walk event to be contested for the third time over the 30km distance. Simon was ready – walking not only to a personal best of 2:07:47 but to win the gold medal in pouring rain.
The improvement curve continued positively in 1987 when the IAAF World Race Walking Cup was held in New York. Simon walked a PB 1:21.57 to finish 11th. Later that year, when the second World Athletics Championships were held in Italy, the Roman heat took its toll, and there was a 24th placing in the 20km.
By then, coach Hilliard felt it was time for his charge to move up to the 50km, and in Simon’s first attempt, he walked 4:04:30 in Germany – pleasingly inside the Australian Olympic qualifying standard. In 1988, he was joined in Canberra by fellow Victorian Andrew Jachno, and they formed a training partnership. Simon won his second National 20km walk title, and along with Andrew, gained selection for both the 20km and 50km for the Seoul Olympics.
At the Games, Simon decided he would double and finished a very commendable 11th in the 20km in 1:21:47, less than two minutes behind Czech winner, Jozef Pribilinec. More significantly, just a week later, Simon made a huge statement – smashing his 50km PB by 20 minutes to finish sixth in a world-class 3:44:07. The time was also a Commonwealth best. Teammate Andrew finished 19th, also in a PB of 3:53:23. Both were elated with their results.
Showing his immense versatility, Simon finished seventh in the 5000 metres walk at the 1989 World Indoor Championships in Budapest, Hungary in 19:24.12. It was the beginning of March.
In stark contrast in terms of distance and preparation, this was to be followed less than three months later by the 14th edition of the IAAF Race World Walking Cup in L’Hospitalet, Spain, southwest of Barcelona.
The 50km walk would deliver the greatest triumph of Simon’s walking career. There were 131 starters, and after holding back for the first half of the race, Simon surged to the front on lap 13 and increased the pace. With two laps of the 2km course, the Australian held an 80-second lead. With great crowd support, Simon held off the Russian challenge to win in another personal best of 3:43:13 ahead of Russia’s Andrey Perlov. There were four other Russians and a Mexican among the 93 walkers finishing behind him.
The 1990 Commonwealth Games were held in Auckland, New Zealand, and unfortunately, Simon’s attempt to defend his 30km title was ruined by injury, but he managed 7th in 2:19:55. He recovered from his injuries and finished the year with a fourth placing in the rarely contested 20,000 metres track walk at the Goodwill Games in Seattle, USA.
The 1991 IAAF World Race Walking Cup was also held in the USA, this time a little further south in San Jose, and Simon was there – determined to defend his title. He was valiant and finished an outstanding second in 3:46:36 behind the revered Mexican Carlos Mercenario. Later that year at the World Championships in Tokyo, Japan, Simon failed to finish in the 50km, which was a war of attrition in typhoon conditions and 97% humidity.
The 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Spain was also very challenging for athletes in the endurance events due to the temperatures, and in that oppressive heat, Simon struggled home in 19th place in 4:08:11.
At the 1993 World Championships in Goteborg, Sweden, he finished 14th in 3:57:11, and the following year Simon finished 6th in the 30km walk at the Commonwealth Games in Victoria, Canada, in 2:14:02.
Simon resigned his AIS Scholarship and became an assistant coach, although he continued to compete. He then returned to Melbourne and prepared himself for one more Olympic Games. He was selected for the Atlanta Games but was disqualified in the 50km. This brought down the curtain on Simon’s most impressive career in one of all sports’ most arduous disciplines. He was able to pursue both coaching and a career and is now a senior hydrologist with the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning.
Simon, who married fellow international walker Canadian Alison Baker, won five senior National Walk titles from 5000m to 50km and was second on eight occasions.
Apart from coaching, Simon continued his involvement in athletics, which has included co-founding the original Athletics Australia Athletes Commission, three years on the Board of Athletics Australia, a national selector, ten years as Oceania representative on the IAAF Athletes Commission, and a member of the Australian Track and Field Coaches Association.
Simon received the Australian Sports Medal in 2000 and was honoured for his service to athletics, particularly race walking, with the Medal of the Order of Australia in 2018.
But on the road, amongst his eighteen major team bibs for his country, Simon Baker will surely be most remembered for his stunning World Cup victory and his Commonwealth Games gold.
Paul Jenes OAM
Athletics Australia Statistician
President ATFS
Acknowledgements: Tim Erickson, ‘Once Were Walkers’; Royal Spanish Athletic Federation, ‘Statistics Handbook IAAF World Racing Cup’; Mark Butler, “IAAF Statistics Book Moscow 2013’; Peter Hamilton, Paul Jenes, Fletcher McEwen, Australian Historic Results; Brian Roe