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Iwan Thomas

Iwan Thomas is undoubtedly one of the best British athletes to date. Iwans achievements at the 400m has been remarkable over the years winning medals at most major events including Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, World Championships and European Championships.

Like many top athlete Iwans sporting talents began in a different sport. His competitive edge began on the BMX track where he excelled achieving a European top 5 placement in the lap event. A sign of things to come!!

In 1993 Iwan put his mark on Welsh and British athletics by setting no less than 9 Welsh 400m records a record that will stand for a very long time. The following season Iwan competed at the Commonwealth Games staged in Canada where he set another Personal Best of 45.98 and breaking the Welsh record once more reaching the semi final stage. After completing 2 years of excellent results Iwan was rewarded with selection for the 1995 European Cup where he was a member of the 4x400 relay team gaining a gold medal.

Iwans terrific performances did not go unnoticed and was rewarded with an individual place on the British Olympic team where he was selected to compete at the age of 22 at the Atlanta Olympics. Iwan did not disappoint reaching the final and finishing in a very respectable 5th place, high in confidence and continuing his form into the relay where the British four achieved alongside Jamie Baulch a silver medal.

A year later Iwan had established himself as a true contender for future major medals. His 1997 season started with a huge result at the UK championships beating Roger Black the Olympic Silver medalist where he won the UK Championship title. His form continued throughout the year winning the European Cup 4x400m relay, winning a silver medal at the World championships in Seville in the 4x400 relay.

The year to remember for Iwan was 1998 coming off the back of a good season he propelled himself to the top of the tree winning numerous Grand Prix events followed on by a European individual gold medal plus the 4x400relay gold a remarkable success. Later that year Iwan competed at the Kuala Lumpur Commonwealth Games where he won the gold medal and picked up a bronze in the 4x400 relay completing a great season of results.

Iwan since has been seen in many TV programs including ITV's Celebrity Wrestling, a show that Iwan was victorious in. He has also begun developing a media role including BBC2's The Human Machine. Thomas also made the final of Superstars in 2003 and 2004. Another reality sports show appearance was on Sky One's The Match. He also appears in the Edexcel 360 Science GCSE books which are available in the UK. He was also on a special Olympic medal winners version of Jungle Run for charity. The team collected the most monkey statues ever, getting 3 minutes out of a possible 3 minutes and 20 seconds. The team walked out of the temple with about 35 seconds to spare. The other members of the team were Mark Foster and Steve Backley. Thomas has recently appeared in reality television program Deadline which saw ten celebrities compiling a weekly gossip magazine. Like his Athletics career he was the overall winner of the show.

Super Schools Wales look forward to brining Iwan to your school.!!

Page Reference : Iwan Thomas,MBE (Athletics)