Iwan Thomas - 400m

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Iwan is without doubt one of the finest 400m runners that Britain has ever seen. A former European Champion, Commonwealth Champion, World Cup winner and the current British Record Holder.

A late starter to the world of Athletics, preferring to concentrate on BMX bike riding (ranked fourth in Europe) than to run one lap of the track. However he did start his athletics career in 1992 when he represented the British 4x400m relay team at the World Junior Championships, helping them to 5^th place.

In 1993 Iwan attended a three year course at West London University studying for a Sports Management degree, where he juggled his studies and training, making excellent progress every year setting 9 Welsh 400m records in the process. In 1994 Iwan went to the Commonwealth Games in Canada where he set another PB and Welsh Record in 45.98 and reached the semi final stage.

Iwan was rewarded for his superb form and was picked to represent the British 4x400m relay team in 1995 at the European Cup which they won. His confidence grew from strength to strength and he was awarded an individual position in the Olympic team for Atlanta. At the age of 22 Iwan had a fantastic games, he came 5^th in the final of the 400m and won a silver medal in the 4x400m alongside good friend and team mate Jamie Baulch.

In 1997 Iwan, keen to capitalise on his achievements of the previous year, claimed his first UK Championship title in Birmingham beating Olympic silver medallist Roger Black. He then went on to win the European Cup 4x400m relay; he came sixth in the World Championships in Seville and won silver in the 4x400m relay.

1998 was a year to remember for Iwan. He launched himself into the season with a number of Grand Prix victories; this was followed by victories in the European Cup and in the 4x400m relay. Iwan then went on to the European Championships in Budapest winning Gold in the 400m and in the 4x400m. Success at the World Cup in South Africa later in the year was particularly satisfying representing Europe against the other continents of the World. In what must have seemed an endless year, Iwan flew straight to the Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur where he became champion of the Commonwealth and bought a bronze medal home for Wales in the 4x400m relay.

Despite a promising start to the 1999 season, Iwan was forced off the track through injury. He underwent telescopic surgery at the beginning of July to repair a stress fracture to his ankle, which resulted in him missing the whole of the season.

In his first race since the Commonwealth Games, Iwan made an encouraging return, winning in Budapest in June in 45.85s. However he was held back by injury and was unable to compete in the Olympic trials. The Olympic selectors decided not to delay their decision on the discretionary third place, leaving Iwan out of the team, to compete only in the relay. In Sydney, he ran each round of the 4x400m but was unable to carry a weakened relay team to a medal despite running his fastest leg in the final.

In 2001 Iwan struggled to regain his top form with a season best of 45.70. At the AAAs Iwan was placed 2^nd, while In the World Championships he was placed eighth with a time of 46.72. At the Commonwealth Games in 2002, his focus was on the relay, where the team won a silver medal and broke the welsh record. Iwan had run an encouraging 46.0 and decided to change coaches at the end of that season and moved up to Loughborough.

Iwan went to California to prepare for the 2003 season with his new coach & training group, completing a good winters training. In Iwan’s 2^nd race of 2003, he ran an impressive 45.95. Still improving and coming back to his past form, Iwan ran 45.58 in Florence at the Europa Cup in late June. Iwan successfully progressed through the heats to reach the final of the AAA’s World Trials in Birmingham in July, unfortunately sustaining an injury to his Achilles during the final, which meant he missed out on a place for the World Championships team and was forced to rest for the remainder of the season.

After a period of rest and rehabilitation Iwan trained hard throughout the winter of 2003/4 and travelled to the USA in May where he took part in a couple of early races. He returned in great shape, however suffered further injury setbacks after tearing his Plantaris Tendon in his right leg whilst racing in Bratislava, which forced him to rest for six weeks.

Iwan ran out of time to regain full fitness and failed to qualify for the Olympics in Athens. Instead he spent the remainder of 2004 focusing on media work.

Injury continued to setback Iwan’s plans on the track, unable to compete in 2005 until August where he launched a successful bid to qualify for the Commonwealth Games but was unable to compete due to injury.

Aside from his achievements in athletics, Iwan has been extremely busy with media work over the last few years. He took part in ITV’s prime time show Celebrity Wrestling, which saw him grappling with various other celebrities. Iwan put in 100% and emerged king of the ring to take the wrestling title. His personality shone on screen and he enjoyed various public appearances during & off the back of the show, which included MTV, This Morning, Nickelodeon & T4.

He has since appeared on Celebrity Weakest Link & Celebrity Stars in Their Eyes as Chris Martin from Coldplay. Iwan is now becoming an experienced presenter with a portfolio including presenting roles on BBC2 ‘s ‘The Human Machine’ and as a health & fitness expert for ‘This Morning’. He has modelled for various clothing brands and has made regular celebrity television appearances, including They Think It’s All Over, A Question of Sport, Sky One’s ‘The Match’, Soccer AM, CBBC’s Dick & Dom & BBC Superstars in 2003 & 2004, in which he made the final.

In 2007 Iwan took part in ITV2’s ‘Deadline’, where he was challenged with producing a weekly magazine for a period of nearly 2 months along with 9 other celebrities, to be published in Closer magazine. Each week a celebrity was fired from the team and Iwan yet again triumphed to take the top prize.

Immediately following his success on Deadline Iwan was approached by the show’s production company, after having had the opportunity of working with him during the whole course of the programme, who are interested in exploring various potential opportunities for furthering Iwan’s television career. In addition to this he got straight back into things following the show with his involvement in Channel 5’s ‘Fifth Gear’.

Since then Iwan has also filmed to Special episodes of CBBC’s ‘Best of Friends’ alongside fellow Olympic Medallist Darren Campbell, appeared on Ready Steady Cook and has also been an expert on The Gadget Show. In addition he has appeared of Question of Sport and has a number of other television appearances lined up.

Due to Iwan’s popularity in the media and his recent television achievements he is in high demand. As a prominent figure in the media and a highly successful Great Britain athlete it is also expected that Iwan will be in high demand from the media as a prominent figure in the lead up to the Beijing Olympics in 2008 and subsequently the London Olympics in 2012.

Iwan is sponsored by Asics and has modelled ffor various clothing brands. He rides a Yamaha R1 and lives and trains in Southampton.

Iwan was awarded an MBE in 1998.

April 2008