My Inspirational Olympic Athlete is....

Derek Redmond

Derek Redmond was born in Bletchley, Buckinghamshire on the 3rd of September 1965. During his career, he held the British record for the 400 metres sprint , and won gold medals in the 4 x 400 metres relay at the World Championships, European Championships and Commonwealth Games.

At the 1991 World Championships, Redmond was a member of the British team which shocked the athletics world by beating the favourite American team into second place to claim the gold medal in the 4 x 400 metres relay. Redmond ran the second leg in the final and, together with team-mates Kriss Akabusi, John Regis and Roger Black, ran what was then the second-fastest 4x400 metres in history.

Redmond’s career was consistently hampered by injury. At the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, he pulled out of the opening round of the 400 metres, 90 seconds before he was due to race because of an injury to his achilles. Before the 1992 Olympics, he had undergone eight operations due to injuries. However, he was in great shape by the time of the event. He had the fastest time of the first round, and went on to win his quarter-final. In the semi-final, Redmond started well but in the back straight about 250 metres from the finish, his hamstring snapped. He hobbled to a halt, and then fell to the ground in pain. First aiders with a stretcher made their way over to him A man in the crowd barged past security and ran on to the track....it was Redmond’s father. In agony, leaning on his father’s shoulder for support, they completed the lap of the track together. As they crossed the finishing line, the crowd of 65,000 spectators rose to give Derek a standing ovation.

Two years after the Olympics in Barcelona, Redmond was told by a surgeon that he would never run again or represent his country in sport again. After accepting the loss of athletics as a career, with the encouragement of his family, he turned to other sports that he enjoyed.

After trials at several basketball clubs, he secured a place on the Great Britain national basketball team. Redmond sent a signed photo of the team to the surgeon that had told him he would never represent his country in sport again.

After playing basketball professionally, he chose to play rugby, another of his favourite sports. He managed to reach division 1 with the intention of representing Great Britain in three different sports. However, after completing trials for the England Sevens team, he did not succeed in getting a place in the squad.

Today Derek Redmond does motivational speaking, inspiring people with his story of the 4x400 gold medal triumph and his famous ordeal in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

StrengthDetermination

Honour

Perseverance

Persistence

Will-power

Keep going

Patience

Faith

BelieveTry Bravery

WHEN YOU DON’T GIVE UP,YOU CANNOT FAIL!