Originally published 18 May 2004

Winning an Olympic gold medal is no doubt the ultimate dream of many athletes but only a few can relish the overwhelming feeling of standing at the top of the tier.

A feeling known well by David Hemery, who sprinted across the finish line at the 1968 Olympic games to win the 400 meter- hurdles in a world record-time of 48.1 seconds.

Born in Cirencester, Gloucestershire in 1944, Hemery spent his formative years in Boston, USA, which was the launch pad of a brilliant track career. His first national success was in 1963 when he won the Junior AAA’s 120 yards hurdles ranking him No 1 junior in the UK for that year.

Following his enrolment at Boston University in 1964, where his technical ability was honed, he attained his first international title in the 1966 Commonwealth Games in Kingston Jamaica, where he won in 14.1 seconds the 120 yards hurdle.

His other athletic accolades include a silver medal at the European Championships and an Olympic bronze.

After making his mark on the athletic scene, Hemery called time on his track career.But not before being accorded the BBC’s TV Sports Personality of the Year for 1968 and European Runner of the Year, 1969. He was also awarded the Order of the British Empire in 1969.

In 1998, when Athletics turned fully professional, Hemery was elected as the first president of the UK Athletics. Since then he has been a coach, teacher, manager, and writer.

He is founder of Performance Consultants, an organisation specialising in Coaching and Team working for business. Here he applies the principles of coaching into management training combining his belief that "The Mind Is Key" with a desire to help people unlock their innate potential to achieve and sustain high performance.
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World-class hurdler, motivational speaker with an image of integrity, representing the old-fashioned values, David Hemery will, on 25 May, speak on: "Winning by any means necessary: a personal view on drugs and sporting excellence."

An event not to be missed!

Get your special invitation here