Sally Gunnell

Sally started athletics life as a pentathlete and long jumper with the Essex Ladies' club. Her explosive power made her a decent junior sprinter and she soon began to concentrate on the 100m hurdles. Gold at the Edinburgh Commonwealth Games of 1986 seemed to confirm Gunnell's prowess at sprint hurdling, but by 1987 she was being encouraged to look at longer distances. In 1989, she took Gold at the European Cup 400m flat race in Gateshead; she won the 1990 Commonwealth Games 400m hurdles title in Auckland.

Gunnell returned to the track's biggest stage in 1992; the Barcelona Olympics. Months of hard graft paid off and she progressed to the 400m hurdles final without incident. An indifferent start to the biggest race of her life was soon forgotten as she engaged the Gunnell afterburner to blow away her rivals in the last 150 metres. Olympic Gold and a place in history were hers.

But Gunnell was not finished yet. She worked even harder during the off-season of 1992/3, building in a raft of changes to her nutrition, physical and technical training. Sally stormed to the gold at the World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany, setting a new world record in the process.

Although her later career was blighted by injury, eventually coming to an end in 1997, Gunnell's achievements in '92 and '93 assured her place in the history books. No other woman has held Commonwealth, European, World and Olympic track titles concurrently and although her world record has been broken by American athlete Kim Batten, her Stuttgart time remains a British record.

Sally became part of the BBC Sport team and was a regular fixture on Athletics programmes throughout the Noughties, until 2006, interviewing athletes on the finish line and bringing the trackside atmosphere in to millions of living rooms across the UK.

Today, Sally's mission is to promote health and well-being for everybody in the UK. She is a passionate supporter of initiatives that encourage families to be more active.

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