Sally Gunnell, OBE is a former British track and field athlete. Gunnell remains the only British woman in sport to have received the four major track titles concurrently – World, Olympic, European and Commonwealth. Gunnell is available to be booked for corporate and private engagements and brand endorsements via MN2S Booking Agency.
Gunnell was born in Essex, growing up on her family’s farm. She began her foray into athletics at the Woodford Green with Essex Ladies club, one of the leading British athletics clubs. She established herself as a talented long jumper and heptathlete and would later specialise in hurdling.
Gunnell’s athletic career really kicked off in 1986 when she, after winning titles at the Amateur Athletics Association (often considered to be the British Athletics Championships) and the UK National Championships, she took home the gold medal in the 100 metres hurdle event at the Commonwealth Games. Gunnell beat previous heptathlon champions in the race and became the new UK number one in the event, reaching the semi-finals at the 1987 World Championships and the finals of 1988 Olympics in Seoul. Seoul would prove a career affirming event in Gunnell’s life as she improved upon her record breaking time of 55.40 not just once, but twice.
1991 marked the beginning of the most successful phase of Gunnell’s career to date when she broke her own hurdles record a total of three times, and then went on to win the silver medal at the World Championships in Tokyo with a time of 53.16. At the next Olympic Games, held in 1992 in Barcelona, Gunnell won the 400m hurdles. In 1993, she would set a world record for the same event, winning gold, in the World Championships in Stuttgart.
1994 saw her add titles from European Athletics Championships, the Goodwill Games, IAAF World Cup and the Commonwealth Games. Unfortunately, Gunnell experienced setbacks in the form of repeated injuries, some of which she would never fully be able to recover from.
Gunnell retired from international athletics in 1997 after an injury to her Achilles tendon, but easily carved out a very successful career for herself in the broadcasting of athletic events worldwide, working for the BBC. Gunnell has long been an advocate of healthy eating and well-being programmes, underlining the importance of it in her athletic success. She has put pen to paper four times, sharing her passion and knowledge on the subject through books that have been well received.
Gunnell is often recognised as one of the greatest athletes of her generation, but her immense contribution and skill to the sporting world was made official at the 1993 New Year Honours when she received an MBE, then followed up by an OBE in 1998 at the Queen’s Birthday Honours.
Gunnell continues her affiliation with sport and well-being through her corporate well-being business. “I’ve worked in the corporate market for years. Research confirms what I know from experience; happy and healthy people are more productive, engaged and successful.”
The venture sees the former star athlete as a motivational and after dinner speaker, heading up initiatives to promote healthy eating. She also establishes relationships with corporations to initiate bespoke well-being programmes and re-focus company priorities on heath, wellness and CSR issues. Gunnell states on her website that sport and business share a great many similar performance principles: “dealing with setbacks, setting goals for success, sustaining excellence and creating a work/life balance”.
Please contact MN2S Talent Agency to enquire about booking Sally Gunnell as an after dinner speaker at your next event.