As Sally Gunnell packs her bags and heads for Athens, she remembers her own golden moment and tells Kevin Bridges it’s now two little boys, a husband and a broadcasting career keeping her on her toes.

Sally Gunnell was the golden girl of athletics during the 1990s but despite the fame that has followed she’s kept her feet firmly on the ground. When I met her near her home in a sleepy Sussex village she came across as a busy working mum. She’d just taken one of her sons to the dentist and was casually dressed, cheerful and unassuming. 

Sally was the best the world had ever seen at the 400 metre hurdles. She’s the only woman in history to have simultaneously held Olympic, World, European and Commonwealth titles as well as a World Record. Her Olympic gold came at Barcelona in 1992 and changed her life.

The Olympics is still hugely important to Sally and she’ll be in Athens as part of the BBC’s commentary team.

“I can’t wait to get out there,” she says. “I know it’ll be long days but I’ll have the best seat in the house. I’ll sit and watch absolutely everything, even the early heats. I never saw them when I was competing because I was off training.”

The scale of the Games is breathtaking, Sally explains.

“It’s enormous. My husband Jon came out to Barcelona and when he saw how huge an event it was he just couldn’t believe it. It’s just the sheer number of sports people all together in one place. In the village you’ve everyone there from different sports. You don’t get to chat too much to people from other sports though — not like the Commonwealth Games which is a bit friendlier. 

“Everyone is doing their own thing. The swimmers, for example, finish really early so you don’t see much of them as they’re out partying and always sleep late. And the athletics is at the end. I remember being a bit awestruck at Atlanta, seeing all the top tennis stars in the same canteen as me,” she says.

Sally knows better than anyone that there’s a huge difference between the athletes who go to the Olympics simply to compete and those who are there to win.

“I’ve been to Games where, even though you’re not simply there for the fun of it, it’s really just a good laugh and we had water fights. But going to win a medal is very different. If you’re a medal contender you’ll just lock yourself away in your room.

“At Barcelona I didn’t go to the opening ceremony — I watched it on telly at home here, which was strange, and flew out really late. I didn’t want to get caught up in everything. I didn’t know what the rooms would be like or how noisy it was going to be and I couldn’t afford to not be able to sleep at night. Athletes share rooms and there were six to eight people in each apartment so I went in at the last minute,” she explains.

Sally was very much a medal favourite in Barcelona and remembers the pressures vividly.

“It was horrible. You just want to get out there and get on with it. The whole year was focused on that one day. You try not to think about the possibility of getting injured. You have to be so positive.”

Sally will never forget her Olympic gold medal-winning race.

“I do a lot of motivational speaking now and I relive it a lot. I still get goosepimples talking about the hour of the race. You’re thinking this is your moment — if you don’t perform now you’ll never get that chance again. I was so nervous. 

“At the moment of victory I couldn’t believe it. It took two months to sink in. I had no idea what the reaction was back home — it’s not till you get there that you realise it’s been massive! My whole life changed the day I crossed the line at the Olympics,” she says.

In the years following the Barcelona Olympics Sally was plagued by injuries before finally deciding she’d had enough at the 1997 World Championships.

“It’s hard to know when to retire. I didn’t want to have any regrets. When I made the decision I just made it on my own, without talking to Jon. I remember when I made the announcement I felt a whole weight lifting off me and I knew I had a new life ahead of me. 

“Suddenly I didn’t have to train any more. When I look back at my career I wonder how I did it. Everything was so regimented and so strict. Every single thing I did was about the athletics. I loved not having to do it. All of a sudden I could eat, I could drink, go out, have a lie in. I go out running now because I want to.”

Now she sees the Olympics from a very different perspective as she conducts trackside interviews, not just with winning athletes but with those whose dreams have been shattered. It’s not an easy role.

“Nine times out of ten you’re talking to people who are disappointed and I have to deal with that. It helps that they know me and that I know what they’re going through. 

“I’m lucky working for the BBC because we have a very good position. There are sometimes 30 journalists trying to talk to the winner of a race, but we get second spot after the host country. Luckily, at the moment, everyone still knows who I am. Britain hasn’t had too many Olympic champions, especially women, so it helps that people remember me.”

Sally fits her broadcasting career around her home life these days. She has two children, Finley (6) and Luca (3), with husband Jon Bigg who was himself a talented 800 metre runner. So does athletics run in the family?

“It’s football at the moment,” she reveals. “I don’t know about them following in our footsteps. I do watch Finley and he runs beautifully. It’s up to them whether they’re interested in it or not. I would certainly encourage them if they were keen. It’s a great sport for kids.”

Athletics remains a big part of Sally’s plans for the future.

“I’d love to still be broadcasting at the Beijing Games in four years’ time. 

“Jon coaches two athletes now and at the moment I don’t have time to do coaching with having the kids. I’m away enough as it is. But I don’t rule it out in the future.” 

As Sally watches the events unfold on track at the Olympics later this month she realises that lives will be changed, just as hers was in Barcelona.

“I thought I’d have a three or four year window when people would be interested in me. But here I am 12 years later and people still stop me in supermarkets to talk about it,” she laughs.

And I bet she’ll beat them to the check-out!


Back to Famous Faces Archive

D C Thomson & Co Ltd. | The Sunday Post  |  post plus