Sally Gunnell OBE

summary

Sally Gunnell O.B.E. holds a place in the hearts of the nation as the most popular female sportswomen of our times, and our most successful. She is the only woman to hold four titles concurrently – Olympic, World, European & Commonwealth and also held the World Record for the 400m hurdles. To many she was ‘the girl next door’, the daughter of an Essex farmer who’s warm and easy going manner belied her incredible sporting achievements. Sally’s presentation relates to a wide cross-section of businesses in all sectors, providing realistic goal setting and fresh approaches that can apply to any of us. It is about delivering easy to follow concepts that relate to the broadest spectrum possible. It is not just another motivational talk from a top sportsperson. It is however, based on a combination of the basic ideas in Sally’s campaign for gold with some principles of wellbeing both physical and mental that she has gleaned from four years working with leading names in these fields.

biography

Sally Gunnell OBE is the greatest female athlete this country has ever produced and the only woman in history to have ever concurrently held all four major championship gold medals – Olympic, World, Commonwealth and European as well as the World record.

Sally started out on the athletics circuit with Essex Ladies’ Club, initially as a long jumper and pentathlete, before switching to the 400m hurdles, where she had her most famous successes.  Sally quickly established herself as force to be reckoned with in British athletics and in 1992 at the Barcelona Olympic Games she achieved the one missing piece from her already impressive trophy cabinet; an Olympic Gold medal.

Following her retirement in 1997, Sally moved from the track to the television studio and, after a spell with BBC Sport commentating on their athletics coverage, she moved to prime time television.  In 2004 she teamed up with Colin Jackson as a mentor on the BBC1 sporting talent search show Born to Win fronted by Dermot O’Leary and she returned to our screens in 2006 in the BBC’s hugely successful Marathon show, Run For Glory. The BBC were so thrilled with her newfound role that she was signed to appear in the BBC1 show, Only Fools on Horses in association with Sport Relief where she learnt the art of show jumping.

As an energetic mother of three, and former athlete, Sally is always keen to draw on her wealth of knowledge and experience to help inspire and encourage families to get active and healthy.  In 2006 she worked along side Raisingkids.com and Crystal Holidays to promote this and in 2007, spurred on by her involvement in Run For Glory, she teamed up with Flora to head up their team of First Timers and take on the challenge of running the London Marathon. On a hot Sunday in April, Sally completed her first ever marathon in an impressive time of 3 hours 50 mins.  She also acts as a consultant and ambassador for the UK’s leading active play organisation, Tumble Tots, working with them to help parents get their kids active in a fun and engaging way.

As well as this, Sally still finds time to spearhead charity events such as Cancer Research UK’s Race for Life and continues to fulfil her role as figurehead for the British Heart Foundation where she is involved in a number of their key initiatives.

Recently voted one of the country’s top ten Olympic heroes in a public poll by the National Lottery company Camelot, Sally is a popular, inspirational and motivational corporate speaker.  Approachable and down-to-earth, she not only tells her own incredible story but she works with businesses to help them get the very best out of their staff and show that with the right mindset, it is possible to achieve anything.

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