Martyn Joseph Rooney (born 3 April 1987) is an English sprinter who specialises in the 400 metres event. He reached the 400 m final at the 2008 Summer Olympics and won bronze in the

4×400 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 ...

. A mainstay on the anchor leg of the Great Britain and England 4 x 400 metre relay teams, at the

2009 World Championships in Athletics The 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics () were held in Berlin, Germany from 15–23 August 2009. The majority of events took place in the Olympiastadion, while the marathon and racewalking events started and finished at the Brandenburg ...

he won a silver medal with the Great Britain relay team, and bronze in the 2015 and 2017 World Championships. Individually, Rooney is a two-time European champion at 400 metres in

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

. and

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

. A five time national champion, his personal best time of 44.45 seconds ranks third all-time in Great Britain behind national record-holders

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, Orego ...

and

Iwan Thomas Iwan Gwyn Thomas (born 5 January 1974) is a Welsh sprinter who represented Great Britain and Northern Ireland at the Olympic Games in the 400 metres, and Wales at the Commonwealth Games. Thomas is a former European, Commonwealth Games and Wo ...

Career

Born and raised in

Thornton Heath Thornton Heath is a district of Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Croydon. It is around north of the town of Croydon, and south of Charing Cross. Prior to the creation of Greater London in 1965, Thornton Heath was in the Co ...

, London, the second of four children born to Marie (née Martyn) and Liam Rooney Sr., Irish immigrants from Sligo and

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, respectively, Rooney started running for Croydon Harriers just before starting his secondary school,

The John Fisher School The John Fisher School is a Roman Catholic voluntary-aided boys' faith school based at Peaks Hill, Purley, Croydon, Surrey, England. The school is located in and funded by the London Borough of Sutton. It occupies the former site of the 19th- ...

. He attended St James the Great Primary School, Thornton Heath where his mum teaches. As a result, he became an avid

Crystal Palace F.C. Crystal Palace Football Club is a professional football club based in Selhurst in the Borough of Croydon, South London, England, who compete in the Premier League, the highest level of English football. Although formally created as a profes ...

fan. Initially training and competing at the middle distances;

800 metres The 800 metres, or meters ( US spelling), is a common track running event. It is the shortest commonly run middle-distance running event. The 800 metres is run over two laps of an outdoor (400-metre) track and has been an Olympic event since t ...

and

1500 metres The 1500 metres or 1,500-metre run (typically pronounced 'fifteen-hundred metres') is the foremost middle distance track event in athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Championships in Athle ...

and doing cross country throughout the winter, Rooney's talent for the one lap sprint was discovered by coincidence when he stood in to make up points at a London fixture. Rooney was selected to represent Great Britain at the 2005 European Juniors, held in Lithuania in July of that year. He achieved the Silver Medal in the individuals and gold with the relay team and on his return home was then asked to make up the senior's 4 × 400 m men's relay team at the 2005 IAAF World Championships in Athletics, held that year in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city ...

, Finland. Martyn was originally running only in the heat, but impressing the GB coaches with a time of 44.9 seconds, he was selected to also run in the final. Despite completing his leg in 44.8 seconds, Martyn and team mates Timothy Benjamin, Robert Tobin and

Malachi Davis Malachi Davis (born September 13, 1977, in Sacramento, California) is a sprinter who competed in the 2004 Summer Olympic Games, representing Great Britain. Davis placed 5th in the finals for the relay team. He competed in two Olympic events i ...

came in fourth, with a sub three-minute time. Rooney represented England in the 2006 Commonwealth Games held in

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 met ...

, Australia. Despite impressing everyone throughout the heats, he came fifth in the final with a time of 45.51 seconds and set a new British Junior Record, previous held by

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 ...

for 20 years. The English 4 × 400 m Men's relay team came in fourth at the Games. At the 2006 World Junior Championships in Beijing he finished third in 45.87 seconds. The British relay team too finished third, earning him a second bronze medal of the Championships. During 2008 Martyn had a successful season where he went comfortably under the 45-second barrier with a 44.83 at the London Grand Prix. At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Rooney set a new personal best in the Semi-final and finished sixth in the final. He also anchored GB to 4th in the relay with a 43.7 split, second fastest ever by a Briton. It was announced on 13 September 2016 that the Russian athlete Denis Alexee, had failed a retest of his sample from the 2008 Olympics. This means that Rooney will be upgraded to a bronze medal from the 4x400m along with

Michael Bingham Michael Bingham (born 13 April 1986) is a British 400 metres track and field athlete. He is one of five children born to British citizen Norris Bingham and Mollissie in Sylva, North Carolina. His parents separated when he was young, and he wa ...

, Robert Tobin and Andrew Steele. At the

, he reached the semi-finals of the 400 m, but finished seventh and did not compete in the final. Running with Conrad Williams,

and Robert Tobin, Rooney had greater success in the men's relay event, winning the silver medal behind the winning team from the United States. He started the 2010 outdoor season with a European leading time of 44.99 seconds to win at the Atletica Geneve Meeting. He went on to win bronze in the 400 metres at the European Championships in Barcelona. He won a silver medal in the

relay A relay Electromechanical relay schematic showing a control coil, four pairs of normally open and one pair of normally closed contacts An automotive-style miniature relay with the dust cover taken off A relay is an electrically operated switch ...

. Rooney had a disappointing 2011, knocked out in the semi-finals of the 400 metres at the World Championships in Daegu and finishing eighth as part of the British team in the 4 × 400 m relay. In 2012 Martyn started well, running 44.92s in April at the Mt. SAC Relays in

Walnut, California Walnut is a city in the eastern part of Los Angeles County in the U.S. state of California. At the 2010 census, the city had a population of 29,172, and in 2019 the population was estimated at 29,685. The greater Walnut Valley is located betw ...

, his fastest time since 2008. Rooney was unable to sustain that form going into his home Olympics, and he was eliminated in the semi-final of the 400 metres, running 45.31s. In the

4 × 400 metres relay The 4 × 400 metres relay or long relay is an athletics track event in which teams consist of four runners who each complete 400 metres or one lap. It is traditionally the final event of a track meet. At top class events, th ...

final Martyn received the baton in sixth place and ran a blistering 44.1 second anchor leg, but was just unable to overtake

Deon Lendore Deon Kristofer Lendore (28 October 1992 – 10 January 2022) was a Trinidad and Tobago sprinter who specialised in the 400 metres. He won a bronze medal in the 4 × 400 metres relay event at the 2012 Summer Olympics, and won medals at the Pa ...

of Trinidad and so finished fourth. In Moscow 2013, Martyn competed for GB in the 4 × 400 m relay, running 44.77 in the heats and 44.50 seconds in the final, where he switched from the 4th leg to the 2nd leg. In the 2014 Commonwealth Games Rooney competed in the 400m and made it through to the finals coming first, but came fourth in the finals with a time of 45.15. Rooney took his first individual European title in the final of the 400m at the 2014

European Athletics Championships The European Athletics Championships is a biennial (from 2010) athletics event organised by the European Athletics Association and is recognised as the elite continental outdoor athletics championships for Europe. Editions First held, for men ...

in Zürich with a time of 44.71. In the 2017 World Athletics Championships in London, Rooney failed to qualify for the semi-final finishing 6th in his heat in a time of 45.75.

Personal life

Martyn is coached b
2012 US Coach of the Year Rana Reider
coach to Olympic Champion Christian Taylor amongst other World and Olympic medalists. Martyn is also coached by British Strength and Conditioning expert Michael Johnston. He is married to former British pole vault record holder

Kate Rooney Kate Rooney (born Kate Dennison, 7 May 1984) is an English pole vaulter. She is a former British record holder both indoors and out, before both of her records were surpassed by Holly Bleasdale in 2011. Born in Durban, South Africa, Rooney cam ...

(née Dennison). In August 2015, their first child, a son, was born. Their second, a daughter was born in August 2017.

Personal bests

References

External links

*
Olympics profile

Read Martyn Rooney's Rising Star profile on spikesmag.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rooney, Martin 1987 births Living people People from Thornton Heath British male sprinters English male sprinters Olympic athletes of Great Britain Olympic bronze medallists for Great Britain Olympic bronze medalists in athletics (track and field) Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics World Athletics Championships athletes for Great Britain World Athletics Championships medalists Commonwealth Games competitors for England Athletes (track and field) at the 2014 Commonwealth Games European Championships (multi-sport event) silver medalists European Athletics Championships winners European Athletics Championships medalists British Athletics Championships winners Alumni of Loughborough University English people of Irish descent