Sally Gunnell is one of the best athletes ever produced by this country, going on to win Olympic gold in Barcelona for the 400 metre hurdles in 1992.
This proved to be the catalyst for her career as she went on to win world, European and Commonwealth titles over the following years.
Now retired Sally is working to help get kids into sport I caught up with her to talk about her new scheme, her career and the state of British athletics
- You are launching a new scheme Aviva UKA Academy so can you tell me a little bit about it?
It’s really about trying to get kids active, to get kids healthy and to realise that athletics is a great way of doing that. And I think that what people don’t realise about athletics is that there are so many disciplines within it, it’s not all about speed or things like that, so if someone is very strong then there’s the shot or javelin and if you have got natural speed then there’s the long jump.
If you visit the website uka.org.uk and just find ways of getting your kids into athletics and that might be through a club or finding ideas for your school or some of the grass roots come and try days in your area.
But I believe that kids should try all different sports and sometimes with athletics you have got to give the parents information and I get asked a lot what should I do? And it’s about getting into a club near you.
- Why did you choose to get involved in the scheme?
I have three young kids now who are just getting into athletics really and it is quite difficult to get into, I was encouraged by school and there are not so much clubs within schools and that sort of thing, so a lot of people are not getting involved because they don’t know quite how to.
I think with the Academy and doing all these sorts of things I really felt that we were offering something else for kids to get into and get them active really.
- And what do you hope it will achieve?
Ultimately I would like to see, I don’t know whether you have seen the figures but kids a re only doing two hours of sport a week compared with 45 hours watching telly and I think that that is such a major health problem later on in life, it’s really about trying to get our kids fit and active from a young age.
And often that is through parents giving them their support, I know that my boys would never go down to an athletics club or a football club off their own back, so it’s really your role as a parent to get them active and give them your support.
- There’s a disturbing fact that by 2050 90% of children will be overweight so what needs to be done to get them more active and to stop this prediction coming truth?
I think all kids are going to be on computers, I can’t see how I’m ever going to get mine off, and at the end of the of the day you have got to be able to go upstairs and ‘right you have been on here an hour lets go’ and offer alternatives.
And yes they are going to moan mine oldest is always complaining about not wanting to go to athletics but once he’s down there he loves it and I think that is where parents support comes in, I know that we all lead busy lives and we are all knackered and it’s to just come in and shove the telly on but you are creating a load of problems later on were your kids are very unfit and unhealthy.
Some of the statistics a re saying that our kids will die before us because they are so unfit and so inactive at such a young age compared to how it used to be.
- How did you get into athletics?
Luckily through school and having a very encouraging P.E teacher really, I realise that is how a lot of people get in into it but if you haven’t got that or athletics isn’t done in the school how will kids get into it? I also had really understanding parents and parents who really did support me and that has made me realise how important that side of it is.
- You went on to be Olympic champion so what drove you to success?
I think there were a number of things really finding what you are good at, I think every child should find something that they are good at and be given choice, having support which was my parents and all the way though they gave me support so I didn’t have to work full time.
I was prepared to work hard, the sport taught me that, what time that you put in and train then the more you get out of it so it was a good lesson for life generally as I think that too many kids just think that they can turn up and play in the match on Saturday but you have got to go down and train,
- And what was your Olympic experience link in Barcelona when you look back on it now?
Amazing actually it’s not until you retire that you actually appreciate as when you are in the sport you are just into the next thing the next worlds or whatever. It’s seventeen years on and I never realised that you would be an Olympic champion for the rest of your life, you’re always known as that, I suppose I thought it was something that just went away really.
As you look back and think of that time, as much as a dream world that it seems, it makes you realise that it changed my life forever really.
- After you retired what did you miss about athletics?
I was ready for new challenges, I’m someone who looks forward to new challenges, I was ready for someone else but I missed the people in the sport and the relationships that you build with people, there were some real nervous times that you spent together. The training trips as you get to go to some very nice places in the world and being part of team.
- The world championships are fast approaching so what do you think of UK Athletics at the moment?
I think it’s a healthy place, I know that people are saying we didn’t win the medals that we should have done last year, we have got a lot of talent and we have got Aviva backing it which is helping kids right from the beginning up to the podium, you need help and guidance and to be nurtured all the way through to be able to get to the top. We really have got that talent and hopefully we will see it emerge in the next couple of years on the way to 2012 really.
- In the early nineties there as yourself Colin Jackson, Linford Christie, Steve Backley, Roger Black and so on so where has the strength and depth gone?
I think now a lot of kids have a lot of choice and a lot of them go into football because of the money all that side of it. But I think that we need to promote sport more, what Aviva are doing with their academies are getting competition in place for youngsters, and we need to keep them in the sport plenty of kids are joining the clubs but they are not staying in the sport.
They were lucky days in the nineties and it can’t stay like that but it will come back but we were so lucky to so much talent at that time if you look at the eighties and we had Coe and Ovett and then you had us lot and I’m sure that it will get back to that.
- Athletics has taken a real knock with drug scandal after drug scandal what do you think athletics’ image is at the moment?
I don’t think that it’s helping and it’s a shame because it’s only a very very small minority of people who choose to cheat but the problem is the whole sport gets labelled with it and it’s very sad and it doesn’t deserve that.
Sometimes I do wish that the press would get away from the Dwain Chambers stories and try and find the positive stories we have got a great guy in Usain Bolt, he’s amazing, so let’s get behind him and build the profile of the sport that’s what he’s there for.
- That leads me into my next question really what can Usain Bolt do for the sport?
I just think that he has got a great image that kids can aspire to; my eleven year old boy wants to go to Crystal Palace to see the Aviva games because he’s there, and I think that that’s important.
We need names and he’s something a little bit different he’s the most amazing athlete in terms of speed and people can understand him and the sport is desperately looking for somebody like that, he’s here and around and lets enjoy that.
- Of course the 2012 Olympics are going to be in London so what do you hope for the event?
I think personally for me it’s just how many kids watch those games and want to get active and want to try different sports that they have seen during the Olympics of have written about in projects at school. It really is about the legacy, that‘s how I got involved watching the Olympics thinking that’s what I want to do, and I’m sure there are loads of kids that do that and hopefully people will it’s cool to get active and be fit.
- As soon as the Beijing games finished they were already comparing them to London do you think that that is realistic?
No not at all I think it will be a very different games to Beijing and think that it should be, Beijing is very different to London and it’s a bit like Atlanta to Sydney and Barcelona really, there will be all sorts of ups and downs before hand and negative press but I think at the end of the day London will put on a very good show, you only have to look at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester, and we will do it in our way and it will be pretty spectacular.
- I know that it’s almost a year on but what did you think of team GB’s performance in Beijing third on the medal table it was pretty impressive?
It was pretty impressive and it was great it showed how professional the sport is now I this country, the Olympic Association and all the Lottery money is really getting through to the right people and to the right sport.
In 1992 all the other countries were being helped by the government and all these sort of thing and what did we get? Now athletes are getting the support and re being able to work and train as they need to and the benefits are showing.
- Finally what’s next for you?
Oh gosh all sorts of things really I’m very involved in getting people active and getting them back into grass roots as well as doing lots of telly, motivational talks and charity work such a variety of things going on in life so am just making the most of it really.
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw
Sally Gunnell is supporting the launch of the Aviva UKA Academy - a new approach to grassroots sport that aims to provide opportunities for every child in the UK to get involved in athletics regardless of age or ability.