Sally Gunnell

About

Sally is one of Britain’s greatest Olympians. She is the only woman to have held European, World, Commonwealth and Olympic hurdles titles at the same time and she still holds the British record for the 400m hurdles.

Sally Gunnell (Sally Jane Janet Gunnell OBE) started out in athletics with the Essex Ladies club as an accomplished long jumper and pentathlete, before turning to the sprints and hurdling. She would go onto win the 400 m hurdles at the 1992 Summer Olympic Games in Barcelona. She also set the world record in the same event when she won gold in the 1993 World Championships.

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.

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).

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. She has appeared in numerous TV shows including A Question of Sport and Total Wipeout. She is a regular on the Breakfast News sofas and conducts hundreds of radio interviews each year.

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.

In 2011, Gunnell was appointed Deputy Lieutenant of West Sussex.

She is a passionate supporter of initiatives that encourage families to be more active. Her corporate work, helping companies to bring health and well-being in to the workplace, confirm her formidable reputation as an influencer at the highest levels of business.