Iwan Thomas

Iwan Gwyn Thomas MBE (born January 5, 1974 in Farnborough (London Borough of Bromley) is an Olympic Athlete, who represented Great Britain and Northern Ireland at the Olympic Games in the 400 m, and Wales at the Commonwealth Games. Thomas is the current UK record holder at 400 m with a time of 44.36 seconds and is a former European and Commonwealth games champion.

Biography

Iwan Thomas was a proficient BMX bike rider, at one point ranking fourth in Europe as well as being a promising 400 metre runner. His initial athletics breakthrough came at the World Junior Championships in 1992 as part of the British 4x400 m relay team that finished 5th. Iwan attended West London Institute of Higher Education, where he studied Sports Science and Geography. While still at university, he took part in the 1994 Commonwealth Games 400 m where he reached the semi-finals, representing Wales. From there, he was selected to represent Britain in the relay at the 1995 European Athletics Cup and secured his first championship gold medal. Thomas's coach for much of his running career was Mike Smith, formerly coach to British 400 m / 400 mH runners Roger Black and Kris Akabusi. Iwan Thomas was awarded an MBE in 1998.

Olympics

At the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Iwan finished 5th in the final and took a silver medal in the 4x400 m event. He also represented Britain in the 2000 Olympics but was not selected for the individual event and despite running the fastest leg for the British team, did not secure a medal.

Injury setbacks

Thomas's career was hampered by injury including a stress fracture to his ankle in 1999 that required telescopic surgery. He was again injured in 2003 with damage to his Achilles. Further injury in 2004 ruled him out of the 2004 Olympic Games. Thomas was selected in 2006 for the Welsh team for the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia, but was unable to compete due to an injury to his heel.

Outside athletics

Thomas has taken part in other media activities including ITV's Celebrity Wrestling, a show that Iwan was victorious in. He has also begun developing a media role including BBC2's The Human Machine. Thomas also made the final of Superstars in 2003 and 2004. Another reality sports show appearance was on Sky One's The Match. He also appears in the Edexcel 360 Science GCSE books which are available in the UK. He was also on a special Olympic medal winners version of Jungle Run for charity. The team collected the most monkey statues ever, getting 3 minutes out of a possible 3 minutes and 20 seconds. The team walked out of the temple with about 35 seconds to spare. The other members of the team were Mark Foster and Steve Backley. Thomas has recently appeared in reality television programme Deadline which saw ten celebrities compiling a weekly gossip magazine. He became the winner of the show and received a £50,000 reward.

Personal life

Thomas lives in Hampshire. After winning Deadline he bought himself a Ducati 1098 motorcycle. He is a supporter of Southampton Football Club.

External links

• IAAF athletics stats
• Nuff Respect Agency bio
• Iwan's home page
• Sprint Start - a scheme to improve children's fitness

Awards
Preceded by Scott Gibbs	BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year 1998	Succeeded by Colin Jackson