Iwan Gwyn Thomas (born 5 January 1974) is a Welsh sprinter who represented

Great Britain and Northern Ireland The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

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 multi ...

in 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 programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor running track, it is o ...

, and

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

at 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 ex ...

. Thomas is a former European,

and World (4 × 400 m relay) champion. Thomas is the former UK 400m record holder, with his time of 44.36s set in Birmingham on 13 July 1997 standing until

Matthew Hudson-Smith Matthew Hudson-Smith (born 26 October 1994) is a British track and field sprinter who specialises in the 400 metres. He holds, as of July 2022, the British record, running a personal best of 44.35 seconds for the distance set at Eugene, Oregon ...

broke the record in May 2022. He was also a member of the team which holds the UK 4 × 400 m Relay record of 2:56.60, set in Atlanta, USA in the Olympic final on 3 August 1996. Thomas's coach for much of his running career was Mike Smith, formerly coach to British 400 m runners Roger Black,

Todd Bennett Todd Anthony Bennett (6 July 1962 – 16 July 2013) was a Great Britain, British athlete who competed mainly in the 400 metres. Athletics career Bennett competed for Great Britain in the 1984 Summer Olympics held in Los Angeles, United Stat ...

and Paul Harmsworth also hurdler Kriss Akabusi. Thomas was made a

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(MBE) in 1998.

Athletics career

His initial athletics breakthrough came at the World Junior Championships in 1992 as part of the British

4x400 metres relay Four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 ("four by four") or 4WD, refers to a two-axled vehicle drivetrain capable of providing torque to all of its wheels simultaneously. It may be full-time or on-demand, and is typically linked via a transfer case ...

team that finished fifth. Thomas attended

Stamford School Stamford School is an independent school for boys in Stamford, Lincolnshire in the English public school tradition. Founded in 1532, it has been a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference since 1920. With the girls-only S ...

and

West London Institute of Higher Education The West London Institute of Higher Education (WLIHE), a two-campus academic establishment, was located in Isleworth and East Twickenham, West London, UK from 1976 until 1995 when it became Brunel University College. In 1997 it was fully integrat ...

, where he studied Sports Science and Geography. While still at university, he took part in 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 ...

400 m where he reached the semi-finals, representing Wales. From there, he was selected to represent Britain in the relay at the 1995 European Cup and secured his first championship gold medal. At the

1996 Olympic Games The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,7 ...

, Thomas finished fifth in the final and took a silver medal in the 4 × 400m event (in which the team broke the UK record, which still stands). He also represented Britain in the 2000 Olympics but was not selected for the individual event and despite running the fastest leg for the British team in the 4 × 400 m relay, did not secure a medal (the team took 5th place in the final). Thomas was a member of the Great Britain 4 × 400 m team at the 1997 World Championships in Athens. The team (Iwan Thomas, Roger Black,

Jamie Baulch James Stephen Baulch (born 3 May 1973) is a retired Welsh sprint athlete and television presenter. He won the 400 metres gold medal at the 1999 World Indoor Championships. As a member of British 4 × 400 metres relay teams, he won a gold medal ...

and Mark Richardson) finished second by 0.18 seconds to the United States. However, in 2008, US team member Antonio Pettigrew, who ran the second leg of the final, testified in the court case against trainer Trevor Graham that he had been aided by performance- enhancing substances between 1997 and 2001, including the 1997 World Championships. As the International Amateur Athletics Federation did not, as of 2008, change results retrospectively more than eight years after the event, initially the GB team was not awarded the gold medal retrospectively, although Pettigrew had returned his medals won in that period. On 7 January 2010 it was announced that Great Britain's 1997 World Championship 4 × 400 m relay team were to be awarded the gold medal they were denied by the disqualified USA team. New medals were minted for the ceremony, as not all of the American quartet returned the originals. Thomas received his gold medal in May 2010 in a presentation by

Alun Ffred Jones Alun Ffred Jones (born 29 October 1949) is a Welsh politician and member of Plaid Cymru and former television producer, writer and director. Jones was the National Assembly for Wales Member for Caernarfon 2003–07 and for the newly created A ...

Cardiff Bay Cardiff Bay ( cy, Bae Caerdydd; historically Tiger Bay; colloquially "The Bay") is an area and freshwater lake in Cardiff, Wales. The site of a former tidal bay and estuary, it serves as the river mouth of the River Taff and Ely. The body of ...

. Thomas' career was hampered by injury including a stress fracture to his ankle in 1999 that required telescopic surgery. He was again injured in 2003 with damage to his Achilles. Further injury in 2004 ruled him out of the

2004 Olympic Games The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

. Thomas was selected in 2006 for the Welsh team for the

2006 Commonwealth Games The 2006 Commonwealth Games, officially the XVIII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Melbourne 2006 (Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm 2006'' or ''Naarm 2006''), was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth held ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a metro ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

, but was unable to compete due to an injury. Iwan never officially retired from athletics but took the opportunity to do so when offered by Andy Goldstein on 3 July 2012 edition of the Andy Goldstien's Sports Bar on TalkSPORT. He remains the UK record-holder in the 4 × 400 m relay.

Personal life

His father was born to Welsh-born parents in

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a historic county in southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in neighbour ...

, whilst his mother's

Welsh language Welsh ( or ) is a Celtic language of the Brittonic subgroup that is native to the Welsh people. Welsh is spoken natively in Wales, by some in England, and in Y Wladfa (the Welsh colony in Chubut Province, Argentina). Historically, it h ...

speaking family were centred around the village of Llandderfel,

Gwynedd Gwynedd (; ) is a county and preserved county (latter with differing boundaries; includes the Isle of Anglesey) in the north-west of Wales. It shares borders with Powys, Conwy County Borough, Denbighshire, Anglesey over the Menai Strait, an ...

. Iwan Thomas was born in

Farnborough Farnborough may refer to: Australia * Farnborough, Queensland, a locality in the Shire of Livingstone United Kingdom * Farnborough, Hampshire, a town in the Rushmoor district of Hampshire, England ** Farnborough (Main) railway station, a railw ...

and now lives in

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

. After winning ''

Deadline Deadline(s) or The Deadline(s) may refer to: * Time limit, a narrow field of time by which an objective must be accomplished Arts, entertainment, and media Comics * Deadline (DC Comics), a fictional villain * ''Deadline'' (magazine), a British ...

'', he bought himself a

Ducati 1098 The Ducati 1098 is a sport bike made by Ducati from 2007 to 2009, in three versions, the 1098, 1098S, and 1098R. The 1098 was succeeded by the 1198 in 2009, though the 1098R remained in production that year. The 1098 shares more design elements ...

motorcycle. Although a lifelong supporter of

Tottenham Hotspur Football Club Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The team has play ...

, in 2010 he became an ambassador for The Saints Foundation, the charity of Southampton F.C. Thomas and his partner welcomed their first child, a boy, in December 2018. Teddy was diagnosed with

Group B streptococcal infection Group B streptococcal infection, also known as Group B streptococcal disease or just Group B strep, is the infection caused by the bacterium '' Streptococcus agalactiae'' (''S. agalactiae'') (also known as group B streptococcus or GBS). GBS infe ...

and it was 10 days before he was released home. Teddy has made an excellent recovery, and Iwan Thomas has raised awareness of the illness and supported the charity Group B Strep Support. Iwan confirmed on episode 5 of Channel 4's ''Celebrity Hunted'' that he and his wife are expecting their second baby. He confirmed via Instagram that their second baby, Dougie Albert Thomas, was born late January 2022.

Television work

Thomas worked as a guest presenter of the Children's television show '' Best of Friends'', alongside

Darren Campbell Darren Andrew Campbell, (born 12 September 1973) is a British former sprint athlete. He was the sprint coach at Wasps Rugby Club for the 2015–16 season. He competed in the 100 metres and 200 metres, as well as the 4 × 100 metres relay. ...

and Charles Ingram. He is a regular panelist on

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream a ...

's '' Through The Keyhole'', was a contestant on ''

Superstars A superstar is a widely acclaimed celebrity. Superstar or superstars may also refer to: People * Warhol superstars, the associates of Andy Warhol * WWE Superstar, a branding term referring to a WWE wrestler * Superstar Billy Graham (born 1943) ...

'' on both

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

and

Five 5 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 5, five or number 5 may also refer to: * AD 5, the fifth year of the AD era * 5 BC, the fifth year before the AD era Literature * ''5'' (visual novel), a 2008 visual novel by Ram * ''5'' (comics), an awa ...

and took part in BBC One's '' Hole in the Wall''. He has also been a contestant on

's ''

Celebrity MasterChef ''MasterChef'' is a competitive cooking reality show produced by Endemol Shine UK and Banijay and broadcast in 60 countries around the world. In the UK, it is produced by the BBC. The show initially ran from 1990 to 2001 and was revived in 20 ...

'', and ''

The Real Hustle ''The Real Hustle'' is a BBC British television series created by Objective Productions, Alexis Conran and R. Paul Wilson for BBC Three. The show demonstrates confidence and magic tricks, distraction scams and proposition bets performed on ...

''. Thomas was a regular guest of Channel 5's ''

The Wright Stuff ''The Wright Stuff'' is a British television chat show which was hosted by former tabloid journalist Matthew Wright from 2000 until 2018. It aired on Channel 5 on weekday mornings from 9:15 to 11:15am. The series characterised itself as "Br ...

''. He starred in ''

Daily Cooks Challenge ''...Cooks!'' is an ITV television cookery show, hosted by Antony Worrall Thompson, broadcast on the ITV networks between 10 June 2006 to 21 May 2010. Formats There were different names for the show, depending on which day it aired. The Satu ...

'' as a judge alongside presenter

Antony Worrall Thompson Henry Antony Cardew Worrall Thompson (born 1 May 1951) is an English restaurateur and celebrity chef, television presenter and radio broadcaster. Early life Worrall Thompson was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. His parents, Michae ...

. In 2008, Thomas guest presented two episodes of '' Best of Friends'', in the sports special with

and in the activities special with

Zoe Salmon Zoe Salmon is a Northern Irish television presenter who hosted the children's television programme ''Blue Peter'' from 23 December 2004 to 25 June 2008. She also appeared on ''Dancing on Ice'' in early 2009. She was the 1999 Miss Northern Ire ...

. Thomas took part in a celebrity version of the children's TV show ''

Jungle Run ''Jungle Run'' is a British children's television adventure series that aired on CITV as part of the ITV network from 10 September 1999 to 29 November 2006. It was a game show similar to shows such as '' Fort Boyard'' and ''The Crystal Maze''. ...

'', along with some fellow Great Britain Olympians, including javelin thrower

Steve Backley Stephen James Backley, OBE (born 12 February 1969) is a retired British track and field athlete who competed in the javelin throw. He formerly held the world record, and his throw from 1992 is the British record. During his career, he was a ...

and swimmer Mark Foster. Iwan took part in the celebrity games of the Million Pound Drop Live broadcast on Friday 10 August 2012. Thomas is currently co-presenter of MotoGP Tonight on BT Sport alongside Craig Doyle. He can also be seen presenting the Chequered Flag show immediately following MotoGP races. On 27 August 2015, Thomas was announced as a contestant in the 2015 series of ''

Strictly Come Dancing ''Strictly Come Dancing'' (informally known as ''Strictly'') is a British dance contest show in which celebrities partner with professional dancers to compete in mainly ballroom and Latin dance. Each couple is scored by a panel of usually 4 j ...

''. On 5 September 2015 it was announced Thomas had been paired with professional dancer

Ola Jordan Aleksandra "Ola" Jordan (''née'' Grabowska; born 30 September 1982) is a British-Polish professional ballroom dancer and model. She appeared as a professional on the British TV show ''Strictly Come Dancing'' from 2006 to 2015. After winning a ch ...

for the series. He was the first contestant to be eliminated. In September 2016, Thomas was a presenter of the Paralympics Games in Rio for Channel 4 where he commentated on the athletics coverage presented from the Olympic Stadium. In February 2017, Thomas was a guest at "dictionary corner" on ''

Countdown A countdown is a sequence of backward counting to indicate the time remaining before an event is scheduled to occur. NASA commonly employs the terms "L-minus" and "T-minus" during the preparation for and anticipation of a rocket launch, and ev ...

'', on Channel 4. In 2022, Thomas took part in Celebrity Hunted for stand up to cancer. He was the only celebrity to win that series, with his teammate Richard Whitehead being caught earlier in the series.

Other activities

Thomas made a guest appearance as a cyclist at the final round of the 2008-09 Revolution series at

Manchester Velodrome Manchester Velodrome is an indoor Olympic-standard cycle-racing track in Manchester, England, which opened in 1994. Part of the National Cycling Centre, the facility has been home to British Cycling since 1994, coinciding with the nations rise t ...

, competing in the 200m

time trial In many racing sports, an athlete (or occasionally a team of athletes) will compete in a time trial against the clock to secure the fastest time. The format of a time trial can vary, but usually follow a format where each athlete or team sets off at ...

. Thomas took part in the London Marathon 2015. Thomas joined the Ecover Sailing Team in 2009 as part of an Extreme 40 event. He was the fifth man on their boat on 31 July, racing catamarans around Egypt Point in

Cowes Cowes () is an English seaport town and civil parish on the Isle of Wight. Cowes is located on the west bank of the estuary of the River Medina, facing the smaller town of East Cowes on the east bank. The two towns are linked by the Cowes Fl ...

, for a practice day of the iShares cup.

References

External links

Official website
*

Sprint Start – a scheme to improve children's fitness
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Iwan 1974 births Living people People from Farnborough, London Athletes from London British male sprinters Welsh male sprinters Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Wales Commonwealth Games silver medallists for Wales Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for Wales Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics Athletes (track and field) at the 1994 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1998 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2002 Commonwealth Games Olympic athletes of Great Britain Olympic silver medallists for Great Britain Athletes (track and field) at the 1996 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2000 Summer Olympics Welsh Olympic medallists World Athletics Championships athletes for Great Britain World Athletics Championships medalists European Athletics Championships medalists Members of the Order of the British Empire People educated at Stamford School Alumni of Brunel University London Sportspeople from Southampton Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists in athletics (track and field) World Athletics Championships winners