One of Britain’s most famous athletes, Derek Redmond is a World and European relay champion. Having broken the British 400m record on two occasions, Derek was one of the country’s best athletes during the 1980s and 1990s. A key member of the relay squad that won gold at the 1991 World Championships in Tokyo, he competed at the highest level for over a decade.
He first rose to prominence in 1985 when he broke the 400m British record achieving a time of 44.82 seconds 12 months later he was selected in the 4x400m relay team for the European Championships in Stuttgart.
Great Britain won gold in what was a sure sign of things to come. A year later they won a silver medal at the World Championships in Rome. By the time the 1991 World Championships in Tokyo arrived Derek had established himself as one of Britain’s best athletes. Alongside Kriss Akabusi, John Regis and Roger Black he then stunned the sporting world as Britain triumphed over the favourites USA to win gold. Their run remains the second fastest 4x400m run in history.
Having now proved himself as a relay athlete, Derek went about trying to do the same as an individual runner. At the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, representing his country he became part of one of the most inspirational scenes in Olympic history.
In the 400m semi-final Derek went into the race amongst the favourites but as he passed the 250m mark he tore his hamstring. Determined to finish the race he hobbled to the finish line with the help of his father as a 65,000-strong crowd cheered him on. This incident has since been voted one of the Olympics’ most inspirational moments by US network NBC and even referenced by Barack Obama in a presidential speech.
This injury signalled an end to his athletics career, but, committed to not letting his injury keep him down, he has since played basketball for England and played rugby 7s.
With a great background in reaching and maintaining peak performance and with the unique perspective his 1992 Olympic injury experience gave him, Derek Redmond is a truly inspirational figure able to use his own story to demonstrate successful strategies and techniques teams and individuals can use to boost their organisation’s effectiveness.
Derek is both an articulate and engaging personality who shares his experience of facing down extreme difficulty by keeping a clear sight of his goals and taking destiny into his own hands. Having been written off as an athlete, he held on to his self-belief and plotted a fresh course towards a whole new set of objectives. He explains precisely how he then reached those objectives.
His outstanding communication skills captivate his audiences, yet his greatest talent as a motivational speaker is the ability to show people how the qualities and attributes he harnessed to help him enjoy such a long sporting career can equally be applied in the business world.
