Du'aine Ladejo (born 14 February 1971, in
Paddington
Paddington is an area within the City of Westminster, in Central London. First a medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Paddi ...
, London, England) is an English-born
athlete
An athlete (also sportsman or sportswoman) is a person who competes in one or more sports that involve physical strength, speed, or endurance.
Athletes may be professionals or amateurs. Most professional athletes have particularly well-devel ...
and television personality. In his sports career, he was best known for winning the
400 metres
The 400 metres, or 400-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics (sport), athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor runn ...
sprint gold medal at the
1994 European Championships and being a member of the United Kingdom and England 400-metre relay squads at the European Championships, Olympics and Commonwealth Games during the 1990s. Ladejo is of mainly Nigerian ancestry
Since retiring from athletics, he has appeared on several television shows including ''
Gladiators
A gladiator ( la, gladiator, "swordsman", from , "sword") was an armed combatant who entertained audiences in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire in violent confrontations with other gladiators, wild animals, and condemned criminals. Some gla ...
'', where he is known by his Gladiator alias Predator. Ladejo is also the founder of Du'aine's Fit4Schools, an organisation which raises funds to promote health and fitness in schools.
He now works full time as the head of Track & Field at Knox Grammar School, Sydney.
Athletics career
At the 1994 European Championships, Ladejo won gold medals in both the 400 metres and the 4x400 metres relay. He won the individual sprint in 45.09 seconds, beating his compatriot and defending-champion
Roger Black
Roger Anthony Black MBE (born 31 March 1966) is a retired English athlete who competed internationally for Great Britain and England. During his athletics career, he won individual silver medals in the 400 metres sprint at both the Olympic Ga ...
into second place. Ladejo also won the 400 metres gold medal at the
European Indoor Championships in both 1994 and 1996. At the
1994 Commonwealth Games
The 1994 Commonwealth Games ( French: ''XVéme Jeux du Commonwealth'') were held in Victoria, British Columbia, from 18 to 28 August 1994. Ten types of sports were featured at the Victoria Games: athletics, aquatics, badminton, boxing, cycling, ...
, he won a 400 metres silver medal (finishing runner-up to
Kenya
)
, national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"()
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Nairobi
, coordinates =
, largest_city = Nairobi
, ...
's
Charles Gitonga
Charles Gitonga (born 5 October 1971) is a retired athlete from Kenya who specialized in the 400 metres. He is best known for winning the gold medal at the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria.
His personal best time was 44.20 seconds, achieved ...
) and a 4x400 metres relay gold medal. At the
Olympic Games
The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...
, Ladejo won two medals in the 4x400 metres relay – a silver medal in 1996 and a bronze medal in 1992.
Following the 1996 Olympics, Ladejo switched his focus to other athletics events, though he never enjoyed as much success as he did in the 400 metres. He tried his hand at the
decathlon
The decathlon is a combined event in Athletics (sport), athletics consisting of ten track and field events. The word "decathlon" was formed, in analogy to the word "pentathlon", from Greek language, Greek δέκα (''déka'', meaning "ten") and ...
, in which he finished seventh at the
1998 Commonwealth Games
The 1998 Commonwealth Games ''(Malay: Sukan Komanwel 1998)'', officially known as the XVI Commonwealth Games ''(Malay: Sukan Komanwel ke-16)'', was a multi-sport event held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This edition is marked by several unprecedent ...
, and also competed in the
400-metre hurdles
The 400 metres hurdles is a track and field hurdling event. The event has been on the Olympic athletics programme since 1900 for men and since 1984 for women.
On a standard outdoor track, 400 metres is the length of the inside lane, once ar ...
.
During his athletics career, Ladejo trained with
Birchfield Harriers
Birchfield Harriers is an athletics club, founded in 1877. Its home is at Birmingham's Alexander Stadium, England.
As well as welcoming recreational runners they cater for all levels of experience up to and including Olympic athletes whether ab ...
.
Media career
For a period during his athletics career, Ladejo also presented a TV show, ''Du'aine's World'', on
London Weekend Television
London Weekend Television (LWT) (now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm (7:00 pm from 1968 unt ...
.
[Predator at gladiatorszone.co.uk](_blank)
/ref> In the early 2000s, Ladejo competed in the BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
in 2005. Ladejo also appeared on the
'' in 2005.
Ladejo is the creator and owner of the television show Australia's Greatest Athlete ''
''. It aired in 2009, 2010 and 2011 on Network television station Channel 9 and Channel 7 in Australia. It was repeated on Fox sports channel. He is also the owner of the brand and Trademark Greatest Athlete.
In 2008, Ladejo joined the
'', competing under the Gladiator alias "Predator".