Selvagowry Retchakan-Müller, (née Vardakumar, formerly Hodge, born 21 June 1960) is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

former

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

athlete who competed in the

400 metres 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 a ...

. She represented

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

at the 1992 Olympic Games in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

, and won silver medals at the

1992 IAAF World Cup The 6th IAAF World Cup in Athletics was an international track and field sporting event sponsored by the International Association of Athletics Federations, held on September 25–27, 1992, at the Estadio Panamericano in Havana, Cuba. Overall res ...

and 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 ...

. She won five

AAA Championships The AAA Championships was an annual track and field competition organised by the Amateur Athletic Association of England. It was the foremost domestic athletics event in the United Kingdom during its lifetime, despite the existence of the officia ...

titles and two UK Championship titles. She was ranked in the world's top ten at 400 metres hurdles in both 1991 and 1992.

Career

Retchakan was born in

Paddington, London 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 Paddingto ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

n parents. She was a member of Thurrock Harriers. In 1982, representing Sri Lanka, she finished sixth in the 100 metres hurdles at the

Asian Games The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. The Games were regulated by the Asian Games Federation (AGF) from the first Games in New Delhi, India, until t ...

. She emerged as one of the UK's leading 400 m hurdlers in the late 1980s. In 1989, she finished third at the

in 57.17, and went on to be the UK's long standing second ranked 400 m hurdler to Sally Gunnell. In 1990, after finishing second at the UK Championships in 58.23, she won the first of five AAAs National titles, winning in 57.14, to earn selection for the

European Championships The European Championships is a multi-sport tournament which brings together the existing European Championships of some of the continent's leading sports every four years. The inaugural edition in 2018 was staged by the host cities of Berlin, ...

, where she was eliminated in the heats in 57.03. In 1991, Retchakan retained her AAAs title in 56.67. At the World Championships in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

. she ran below 55 seconds for the first time, with 54.95 in the heats, improving to 54.88 in the semi-finals, narrowly missing the final. The time ranked her tenth fastest in the world for 1991. In 1992, Retchakan won the UK title in 55.42 and retained the AAAs title in 55.04, to earn Olympic selection. At the Barcelona Olympics, she ran her lifetime best of 54.63 in the semi-finals, to again narrowly miss the final. She was unfortunate to miss out, as she was the seventh fastest athlete overall from the two semis. A month after the Olympics, she was selected to represent Europe at the IAAF World Cup in

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

. She ran 55.66, to finish second behind

Sandra Farmer-Patrick Sandra Marie Farmer-Patrick ( née Farmer, born 18 August 1962) is a Jamaican-born American former athlete who competed mainly in the 400 metres hurdles. She won silver medals in that event at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, and at the ...

and ahead of

Margarita Ponomaryova A margarita is a cocktail consisting of Tequila, triple sec, and lime juice often served with salt on the rim of the glass. The drink is served shaken with ice (on the rocks), blended with ice (frozen margarita), or without ice (straight up). T ...

. She was the ninth fastest in the world for 1992. Retchakan retained the UK 400 m hurdles title in 1993, running 56.62 and reached the semi-finals of the World Championships in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

, running 55.96. In 1994, she won her fourth AAAs title in 57.08 and went on to reach the 400 m hurdles finals at both the

and the

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...

. At the Europeans in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

, she finished eighth in 56.05. Then in Victoria, at the Commonwealth Games, she finished fifth in the final, in 56.69. She won her fifth (and final) AAAs 400 metres hurdles title in 1995, in 57.18. However, she declined selection for the World Championships. At the 1996 British Olympic Trials, she was sixth, failing to earn Olympic selection. In 1998, at the age of 38, Retchakan had one of her best career results, when she won a silver medal at the

Kuala Lumpur , anthem = '' Maju dan Sejahtera'' , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia , pushpin_map_caption = , coordinates = , su ...

. She finished behind

Andrea Blackett Andrea Melissa Blackett (born 24 January 1976, in London) is a Barbadian athlete who specializes in the 400 metres hurdles. She is also a women's track assistant coach at her alma mater, Rice University. Her greatest achievement in athletics i ...

in 55.25, her fastest time for six years. Having ranked second in the UK for five straight years to Sally Gunnell (1990–94) then third in 1995, she at last achieved the UK number one ranking. As of 2021, Retchakan's best of 54.63, ranks her seventh on the UK all-time list. She also holds the UK masters records in the W35 and W40 categories. Her 55.25 in 1998, was the second fastest time ever by a veteran woman, age 35+, after Marina Stepanova. In 2000, she broke the world age 40+ record with 58.3.

Personal life

Retchakan is married to Paul Joachim Müller. She was formerly married to the athletics statistician Ian Hodge.

Competition record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Retchakan, Gowry 1960 births Living people English people of Sri Lankan descent British female hurdlers Sri Lankan female hurdlers English female hurdlers Asian Games competitors for Sri Lanka Athletes (track and field) at the 1982 Asian Games Olympic athletes for Great Britain Commonwealth Games silver medallists for England Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics Athletes (track and field) at the 1992 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1994 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1998 Commonwealth Games World Athletics Championships athletes for Great Britain Medallists at the 1998 Commonwealth Games People from Paddington Sportspeople from the City of Westminster