Aurèle Vandendriessche (4 July 1932 – 17 October 2023) was a Belgian marathon runner, who won silver medals at the 1962 and 1966 European Championships. He competed at the 1956, 1960, and 1964 Summer Olympics with the best result of seventh place in 1964. Twice winner of the Boston Marathon (1963 and 1964), he recorded his best time there, 2:17:44 in 1965, while finishing fourth.Boston Marathon History: 1961–1965 , Boston Athletic Association. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
At the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, Abebe Bikila, followed barefoot at the rear of the lead pack, which was moving at a scorching pace and included Arthur Keily, Bakir Benaïssa, Rhadi Ben Abdesselam who was the reigning world cross-country champion, Bertie Messitt, the marathon world record holder Sergey Popov, and Vandendriessche. Bikila won, setting a world record at 2:15:16.2. After they dispatched the rest of the field by 25 kilometers, Abdesselam stayed with Bikila until the final 500 meters, finishing second in 2:15:41.6. Vandendriessche abandoned the race. He placed seventh at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, where Bikila won again with a new world record.
Vandendriessche died in Waregem on 17 October 2023, at the age of 91.
Achievements Representing 1962European ChampionshipsBelgrade, Yugoslavia 2ndMarathon2:24:02.01963Boston MarathonBoston, United States 1stMarathon2:18:581964Boston MarathonBoston, United States 1stMarathon2:19:591965Enschede MarathonEnschede, Netherlands 1stMarathon2:21:16Košice Peace MarathonKošice, Czechoslovakia 1stMarathon2:23:471966European ChampionshipsBudapest, Hungary 2ndMarathon2:21:43.6
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