Daniel "Dan" Awde (born 22 June 1988 in

Hammersmith Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

) is a British

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 ...

runner and former

decathlete The decathlon is a combined event in athletics consisting of ten track and field events. The word "decathlon" was formed, in analogy to the word "pentathlon", from Greek δέκα (''déka'', meaning "ten") and ἄθλος (''áthlos'', or ἄθ ...

who has twice competed at the

Summer Olympic Games The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...

. In 2002 Awde, who competes for the Woodford Green with Essex Ladies athletics club, won the bronze medal in the under-15 event at the South of England Indoor Pentathlon competition. In 2007 he finished first in the junior event at the inaugural England Combined Events Championships. He was selected to represent

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

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

after his training partner, former World Championship silver medallist

Dean Macey Dean Macey (born 12 December 1977) is an English athlete from Canvey Island. He is best known for competing in the decathlon, which he did from 1995 to 2008, winning the Commonwealth Games decathlon, two World Championship medals, as well as twic ...

, failed to achieve the qualifying standard. Macey subsequently retired from competition. Awde had achieved the decathlon 'B' qualifying standard of 7700 twice, first at the England Championships in Birmingham, where he improved his personal best by 416 points to 7704, then at the European Cup in Finland. Before going to Beijing he had what he described as an "inspirational" conversation with two-times Olympic decathlon champion

Daley Thompson Francis Morgan Ayodélé Thompson, (born 30 July 1958), better known as Daley Thompson, is a British former decathlete. He won the decathlon gold medal at the Olympic Games in 1980 and 1984, and broke the world record for the event four tim ...

who is friends with Awde's coach Greg Richards. In the decathlon competition at the 2008 Olympics, Awde finished 21st in the overall standings. The gold medal was won by American

Bryan Clay Bryan Ezra Tsumoru Clay (born January 3, 1980) is an American decathlete who was the 2008 Summer Olympic champion for the decathlon and was also World champion in 2005. Biography Clay was born in Austin, Texas and raised in Hawaii. He is Afr ...

. Awde set a new personal best in the

pole vault Pole vaulting, also known as pole jumping, is a track and field event in which an athlete uses a long and flexible pole, usually made from fiberglass or carbon fiber, as an aid to jump over a bar. Pole jumping competitions were known to the Myc ...

at 4.90 m, the seventh best result for any athlete in the event. He had the fastest time of any athlete in the 400 metres, his time of 47.16 seconds earning him 950 points. Awde finished with 7516 points, 1275 behind Clay's winning total of 8791. Awde missed the

2010 Commonwealth Games The 2010 Commonwealth Games (Hindi: 2010 राष्ट्रमण्डल खेल), officially known as the XIX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Delhi 2010, was an international multi-sport event that was held in Delhi, India, f ...

due to injury. He was selected to represent Great Britain in the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

. In the first event (100 m sprint) Daniel won his heat with a personal best of 10.71 seconds but was then forced to withdraw from the competition with a knee injury during the long jump. For the 2014 season Awde switched from the decathlon to the 400 metres, joining coach Chris Zah's training group based at Mile End, and winning a bronze at the UK Indoor Championships. He was subsequently selected for the England 4×400 m relay squad for the

2014 Commonwealth Games The 2014 Commonwealth Games ( gd, Geamannan a' Cho-fhlaitheis 2014), officially known as the XX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Glasgow 2014, ( sco, Glesca 2014 or Glesga 2014; gd, Glaschu 2014), was an international multi-sport ev ...

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

, which went on to win gold. Awde has been in the filming industry to perform stunts in movies like

Angel Has Fallen ''Angel Has Fallen'' is a 2019 American action thriller film directed by Ric Roman Waugh. It is the third installment in the ''Has Fallen'' film series, following ''Olympus Has Fallen'' (2013) and ''London Has Fallen'' (2016). The film stars Ge ...

, Dolittle, F9,

Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard ''Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard'' is a 2021 American action comedy film directed by Patrick Hughes and written by Tom O'Connor and Brandon and Phillip Murphy. The film is a sequel to the 2017 film ''The Hitman's Bodyguard'' and features Ryan Reynold ...

, Black Widow, No Time to Die,

The King's Man ''The King's Man'' is a 2021 spy action film directed by Matthew Vaughn from a screenplay by Vaughn and Karl Gajdusek and a story by Vaughn. The third installment in the British ''Kingsman'' film series, which is based on the comic book ''The ...

, and was the running body double for Chris Evans in Captain America: The First Avenger.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Awde, Daniel 1988 births Living people English decathletes British decathletes English male sprinters British male sprinters Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for Great Britain Sportspeople from Hammersmith Athletes (track and field) at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics Commonwealth Games gold medallists for England Medallists at the 2014 Commonwealth Games