3. 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.
4. 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.
5.
6. 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.
7.
8. 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.
