Sally Gunnell

Sally Gunnell

Personal information
Full name	Sally Jane Janet Gunnell
Nationality	British
Born	(1966-07-29) 29 July 1966 Chigwell, Essex, England
Sport
Sport	Athletics
Event	400 m hurdles
Club	Essex Ladies
Medal record Women's Athletics Representing Great Britain Olympic Games 1992 Barcelona 400 m hurdles 1992 Barcelona 4x400 m relay World Championships 1993 Stuttgart 400 m hurdles 1991 Tokyo 400 m hurdles 1993 Stuttgart 4x400 m relay Goodwill Games 1994 Saint Petersburg 400 m hurdles IAAF World Cup 1994 London 400 m hurdles 1994 London 4x400 m relay 1989 Barcelona 400 m hurdles European Championships 1994 Helsinki 400 m hurdles 1990 Split 4x400 m relay European Cup 1993 Rome 400 m hurdles 1994 Birmingham 400 m hurdles 1996 Madrid 400 m hurdles 1997 Munich 400 m hurdles 1989 Gateshead 400 m hurdles 1991 Frankfurt 400 m hurdles European Indoor Championships 1989 The Hague 400 m Representing England Commonwealth Games 1986 Edinburgh 100 m hurdles 1990 Auckland 400 m hurdles 1990 Auckland 4x400 m relay 1994 Victoria 400 m hurdles 1994 Victoria 4x400 m relay 1990 Auckland 100 m hurdles

Sally Jane Janet Gunnell OBE (born 29 July 1966 in Chigwell, Essex, England) is a British former Olympic champion in the 400 m hurdles. She also worked as a television presenter, predominantly for the BBC until January 2006.

Early life

Gunnell grew up on her parents farm and attended Chigwell Primary School and the West Hatch High School on High Road in Chigwell.

Career

Athletics

Gunnell started out in athletics with the Essex Ladies club as an accomplished long jumper and pentathlete, before turning to the sprints and hurdling.

Gunnell won the 400 m hurdles at the 1992 Summer Olympic Games in Barcelona. She set the world record in the same event when she won gold in the 1993 World Championships. This record was broken by Kim Batten in 1995, but is still the British record. Her defence of her Olympic title in Atlanta in 1996 was cut short when as she pulled up injured in one of the early rounds. This seemed a particularly cruel blow, as this race occurred on her 30th birthday.

In 1996, Gunnell worked as a Red Cross ambassador in Angola. In September 1997, she retired after a recurrence of an achilles tendon injury.

Gunnell remains the only woman to have held the European, World, Commonwealth and Olympic 400 metre hurdles titles at the same time. This record can only be matched by an athlete from the United Kingdom, Gibraltar, Malta or Cyprus, as these are the only European nations that also compete in the Commonwealth Games.

Gunnell is now involved as one of the ambassadors for McCain's Track & Field partnership with UK Athletics.

Television

She was one of the four celebrity guests in the ITV's You Bet! – Series 7 (1993–4), co-winning with Michaela Strachan, donating her winnings to a charity working to find a cure for breast cancer. She was presented the big red book in 1997.

In summer 2006, she was a celebrity showjumper in the BBC's Sport Relief event Only Fools on Horses. She also won a Weakest Link Sporting Heroes Special, first broadcast on Saturday 25 July 2009 on BBC One.

She took part in a celebrity version of TV show Total Wipeout which aired on 2 January 2010.

Recognition

In the 1993 New Year Honours, Gunnell was made an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) and in the 1998 Queen's Birthday Honours, she was made an OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire). In 2011, Gunnell was appointed Deputy Lieutenant of West Sussex.

Personal life

She is married to fellow athlete Jonathan Bigg, and has three sons; Finley, Luca, and Marley. She lives in Steyning, a village in West Sussex, just outside Brighton.

External links

• Sally Gunnell Official Website
• Profile at the IMDb
• http://www.mtc-uk.com/talent/sally-gunnell/