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STEVE BACKLEY
Olympic
Medalist, Author, TV Presenter, Business/Motivational Speaker and Business Man
1987:
Steve started his championship career well by winning the European junior
champs in front of a home crowd in 1988: Backley set
a world junior record of 79.50, but was beaten by the capable Russian,
Victor Ovchinikov in the World junior championships in 1989: Bursts onto
the senior scene with wins at both the World and European Cup after winning the
World Student Games. He also won the Grand prix final, finishing 2 nd overall to
Said Ouita. 1990: A dream
summer for Steve starts with a world record of 89.58m in 1991: Injury
interrupted the positive momentum of the past 4 years and despite a
disappointing world championships in 1992: Following
the ban of the Nemeth javelin Backley again sets the world standard with a huge
91.46m world record throw in 1993: More injuries
made it difficult for Steve to maintain the domination he had achieved over the
past 4 years, a disappointing 4 th place in the world championships and the
upsurge of the already huge rival Jan Zelezny meant Steve had his work cut out. 1994: Steve began
to build his form and against all odds beat the relatively unrivalled Zelezny,
as well as 1995: Despite
Steve beating the best in the world at the 1996: Takes
Olympic silver just three months after an operation on his Achilles. Steve was
awarded the MBE for his services to sport. 1996: Steve
became Author of “The Winning Winning Mind” A guide to achieving
success and overcome 1997: Follows
this up with another silver medal at the 1997 World Championships. Steve decided
to join his arch rival Zelezny's training group at the end of the summer and
train alongside him under the guidance of his coach Jan Pospisil. This proved to
be a successful move. 1998: Having
performed well at the 3 championships in the 3 previous years and 'only' to take
silver medals at each games', it was time for Steve to return to winning ways.
He successfully defended his European title but was surprisingly beaten into
silver at the Commonwealth Games by 1999: The high
level of training and performance of the previous year took its toll and Steve
suffered more injury and ended up having knee surgery. He did manage however to
throw over 87m at the AAAs and make the world championships final. 2000: Proved his
championship pedigree yet again in 2001: Built on
that form with his best throw for nine years, 90.81 at the British Grand
Prix 2002: Added to more gold
medals to his collection with another European/Commonwealth double in 2002. This
European gold made Steve the first British athlete in history to achieve 4
consecutive European gold medals. Steve was awarded the OBE for his services to
sport as well as an honorary PhD from 2003: Backley
opened his 2003 campaign with a victory in 2004: At the age
of 36, Steve rounded off a great career with 4th place in the Athens Olympics.
Although this was his lowest positioning in an Olympic Games, it illustrates the
consistency of his performances throughout his competitive life at major
championship level.
Author In
1996:
Steve became Author of “The Winning Winning Mind” A guide to achieving
success and overcome failure with Ian Stafford.
Steve retired from athletics in 2004
at the Athens Games. And between then and 2009 he has worked in many areas of
media and the business world. His media work has been extensive with regular
appearances on Question of sport and high profile appearances with…. ·
BBC
Media
Steve has been a valuable member of
the 5 live team for over four years and more recently has joined Steve Cram and
Paul Dickenson as a commentator on BBC’s TV athletics coverage through 2009. ·
Pro
Celebrity Darts
Steve teamed up with darts legend
James Wade to win the Party Poker pro celeb darts tournament. After a 3-0
victory over Barneveld and Phil Tufnall in the Semis, Backley and Wade had to
face Phil ‘the Power’ Taylor and Razor Ruddock in the final. It came down to
Backley to throw the double which he did on his second dart to take the title. ·
Celebrity
Steve went up against Jenny Bond and
Ingrid Tarrent in the hit TV show. Steve opted for a Blue cheese, cheese cake
which divided the judges and was eliminated in the first round. Steve said, “
I went for something unusual and knew it wouldn’t be everyone’s cup of
tea.” ·
All
Star Mr and Mrs
Steve and his wife Clare took on and
won against Robin Gibb and his wife Dwina and Theo Walcott with his partner
Melanie in the Saturday night classic TV show. ·
Dancing
on Ice He
may have picked up medals at three consecutive Olympic Games but Steve faced his
toughest challenge ever as he swapped his javelin for a pair of ice-skates. Steve
did however manage to make it to a very credible week 6 in the 10 week show and
survived a record 4 skate-offs. ·
Newsnight
Steve appeared and went toe to toe with Jonathan Aitken to debate the issue of redemption. Aitken who learnt about it the hard way, in prison, believes in a second chance. The former Olympic athlete Steve Backley stood firm on the ground that once you have cheated, you should never be allowed back into the athletics arena as you have potentially life long benefits. A lively debate ensued... |
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