Sally Gunnell
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| Medal record | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Women's Athletics | |||
Competitor for  United Kingdom |
|||
| Olympic Games | |||
| Gold | 1992 Barcelona | 400 m hurdles | |
| Bronze | 1992 Barcelona | 4 x 400 m | |
| Goodwill Games | |||
| Gold | 1998 New York | 400 m hurdles | |
Competitor for  England |
|||
| Commonwealth Games | |||
| Gold | 1986 Edinburgh | 100 m hurdles | |
| Gold | 1990 Auckland | 400 m hurdles | |
| Silver | 1990 Auckland | 100m hurdles | |
| Gold | 1994 Victoria | 400 m hurdles | |
| World Championships | |||
| Silver | 1991 Tokyo | 400 m hurdles | |
| Gold | 1993 Stuttgart | 400 m hurdles | |
| IAAF World Cup | |||
| Gold | 1994 London | 400 m hurdles | |
| European Championships | |||
| Gold | 1994 Helsinki | 400 m hurdles | |
| European Cup | |||
| Gold | 1989 Gateshead | 400 m | |
| Gold | 1991 Frankfurt | 400 m hurdles | |
| Gold | 1993 Rome | 400 m hurdles | |
| Gold | 1994 Birmingham | 400 m hurdles | |
| European Indoor Championships | |||
| Gold | 1989 The Hague | 400 m | |
Sally Jane Janet Gunnell, OBE (born July 29, 1966 in Chigwell, Essex, England) is a former Olympic champion in the 400m hurdles. She has also worked as a television presenter predominantly for the BBC until January 2006.
Gunnell started out in athletics with the Essex Ladies club as an accomplished long jumper and pentathlete before turning to the sprints and hurdling and is the only woman to have held the European, World, Commonwealth and Olympic 400 metre hurdles titles at the same time.
Gunnell won the 400m 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. Her defence of her Olympic title in Atlanta in 1996 was cut short as she pulled up in one of her races, injured. 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.
In 1998, Gunnell was awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE).
In summer 2006, she was a celebrity showjumper in the BBC's Sport Relief event Only Fools on Horses.
She is married to fellow athlete Jonathan Bigg and has three children, all boys.
| Olympic champions in women's 400 m hurdles |
|---|
| 1984: Nawal El Moutawakel | 1988: Debbie Flintoff-King | 1992: Sally Gunnell | 1996: Deon Hemmings | 2000: Irina Privalova | 2004: Fani Halkia |
| British Olympic champions in women's athletics |
|---|
| 1964: Mary Rand (long jump) | 1964: Ann Packer (800 m) | 1972: Mary Peters (pentathlon) | 1984: Tessa Sanderson (javelin) | 1992: Sally Gunnell (400 m hurdles) | 2000: Denise Lewis (heptathlon) | 2004: Kelly Holmes (800 m & 1500 m) |
| Preceded by None |
Women's European Athlete of the Year 1993 |
Succeeded by Irina Privalova |
[edit] External links
Categories: Articles lacking sources from December 2006 | All articles lacking sources | 1966 births | People from Chigwell | Living people | English athletes | Hurdlers | Athletes at the 1988 Summer Olympics | Athletes at the 1992 Summer Olympics | Athletes at the 1996 Summer Olympics | English television presenters | Officers of the Order of the British Empire | Olympic competitors for Great Britain | Sunday Times Sportswoman of the Year award winner | Olympic gold medalists for Great Britain | Olympic bronze medalists for Great Britain
