Kriss Akabusi

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Olympic medal record
Men's Athletics
Silver	1984 Los Angeles	4x400m relay
Bronze	1992 Barcelona	400m hurdles
Bronze	1992 Barcelona	4x400m relay
World Championships
Silver	1987 Rome	4 x 400 m relay
Gold	1991 Tokyo	4 x 400 m relay
Bronze	1991 Tokyo	400 m hurdles
European Championships
Gold	1990 Split	400 m hurdles
Commonwealth Games
Gold	1990 Auckland	400 m hurdles

Kriss Kezie Uche Chukwu Duru Akabusi MBE (born 28 November 1958 in London, England) is a former athlete who went on to become a television presenter and motivational speaker.

Akabusi joined the British Army in 1975 and had a successful career in the Royal Corps of Signals before switching to the Army Physical Training Corps in 1981. When he was discharged into the reserves at the end of his army career he held the rank of Warrant Officer Class 2.

It was in 1983 that Akabusi embarked upon his athletics career as a member of the 4x400M relay team, and in his successful time as an athlete he won three medals at the Summer Olympics and three World Championship medals, amongst others. In 1990 he broke David Hemery's longstanding British record on his way to a Gold medal at the European Championships.

Akabusi has presented the television shows Record Breakers and The Big Breakfast, and has regularly appeared as a panellist on many quiz shows such as A Question of Sport, They Think It's All Over and Through the Keyhole.

In 1992, along with fellow relay team member Roger Black, Akabusi was awarded an Honorary degree from the University of Southampton.

Also that year he was awarded the MBE by Queen Elizabeth II in recognition of his services to the country through athletics.

He is currently the Chief executive officer of The Akabusi Company [1] specialising in giving corporate motivational speeches, some of his attendees being FTSE100 companies.

Arguably Akabusi's most famous moment came during the 1991 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo. Kriss, a 400m hurdles specialist, was running anchor leg for the Great Britain team in the 4x400m relay final. He picked up the baton in second place, some 1-2 metres down on the newly crowned World Champion, USA's Antonio Pettigrew. Matching Pettigrew for pace for most of the lap, Kriss moved up onto his shoulder on the final bend and just edged him out in the sprint for the line to take an unlikely Gold medal for GB.

Akabusi is also a notable supporter of West Ham United. He has been adopted as an unofficial mascot by the supporters of Stenhousemuir F.C..

Achievements

• 1984
  • Summer Olympics - Los Angeles, United States.
    • 4 x 400 m. relay silver medal
• 1987
  • World Championships - Rome, Italy.
    • 4 x 400 m. relay silver medal
• 1989
  • IAAF World Cup - Barcelona, Spain.
    • 400 m. hurdles bronze medal
  • European Cup - Gateshead, England.
    • 400 m. hurdles gold medal
• 1990
  • Commonwealth Games - Auckland, New Zealand.
    • 400 m. hurdles gold medal
  • European Championships- Split, Yugoslavia.
    • 400 m. hurdles gold medal
• 1991
  • World Championships - Tokyo, Japan.
    • 400 m. hurdles bronze medal
    • 4 x 400 m. relay gold medal
  • European Cup - Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
    • 400 m. hurdles gold medal
• 1992
  • Summer Olympics - Barcelona, Spain.
    • 400 m. hurdles bronze medal
    • 4 x 400 m. relay bronze medal

References

• AKABUSI, Kriss International Who's Who. accessed September 1, 2006.