Career
Deakes trained with the Australian Institute of Sport. By performances, Deakes is Australia"s best and most successful ever race walker, winning several international medals and holding many Australian and World Records. He was the 2006 Australian Male Athlete of the year, Australia"s most prestigious sporting award across all sports.
He was also among the leading duo at the Athens Olympics in the 50 km walk, until being disqualified.
To cap off a successful 2007, Deakes was crowned 2007 Telstra Male Athlete of the Year for the second time (the first being in 2004). He also broke the 50 km walk world record on 2 December 2006 at the Australian 50 km Road Walking Championships in Geelong, recording a time of 3:35.47.
This bettered race walking great Robert Korzeniowski"s previous world record of 3:36.03. He is also 4th all-time for the 20 km walk, 1:17.33, and 7th all-time for the 20,000m walk, 1:19.47.
On 21 July 2008 Deakes announced that he would withdraw from the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, with a hamstring tendon injury that required surgery to repair.
His last competitive outing came at the 2012 London Olympics, where he finished 22nd in the 50 km walk. He retired from the sport officially in February 2013, and became a Board Member soon after for Athletics Australia. Deakes has completed university academic qualifications with a double degree in Banking & Finance and Law (Honours) from the University of Canberra, and a Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice from the Australian National University.