Nicholas Nieland (born 31 January 1972 in
Truro
Truro (; kw, Truru) is a cathedral city and civil parish in Cornwall, England. It is Cornwall's county town, sole city and centre for administration, leisure and retail trading. Its population was 18,766 in the 2011 census. People of Truro ...
,
Cornwall
Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...
) is a British
javelin throw
The javelin throw is a track and field event where the javelin, a spear about in length, is thrown. The javelin thrower gains momentum by running within a predetermined area. Javelin throwing is an event of both the men's decathlon and the wom ...
er.
He was the British number three for many years. When his long-time domestic rival
Steven Backley retired, Nieland rose to prominence to achieve a gold medal for
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 ...
at the
2006 Commonwealth Games becoming number one in the UK.
His personal best is 85.09m set in 2000 and his best throw in 2006 is 84.70m. He won 4 national titles from 1996 to 2007, setting personal bests in the Olympic Trials in 1996 and 2000.
Nieland is a graduate of
Bristol University with a BSc Chemistry 1994, and PhD Chemistry 1999.
Nick made his achievements in athletics from 2000 to 2007 while working as an equity analyst for a top investment bank in the City of London. After retirement he went on to become a strategic analyst for pharmaceutical firm
Novartis
Novartis AG is a Swiss-American multinational pharmaceutical corporation based in Basel, Switzerland and
Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States (global research).name="novartis.com">https://www.novartis.com/research-development/research-loc ...
, later joining the pharmaceutical research team of
Citigroup.
Achievements
Seasonal bests by year
*1995 - 76.30
*1996 - 83.06
*1997 - 78.76
*1998 - 78.68
*1999 - 83.68
*2000 - 85.09
*2001 - 82.93
*2002 - 80.05
*2003 - 82.97
*2004 - 79.06
*2005 - 79.56
*2006 - 84.70
*2007 - 79.04
References
*
Living people
1972 births
Sportspeople from Truro
British male javelin throwers
English male javelin throwers
Olympic male javelin throwers
Olympic athletes of Great Britain
Athletes (track and field) at the 1996 Summer Olympics
Athletes (track and field) at the 2000 Summer Olympics
Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics
Commonwealth Games gold medallists for England
Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for England
Commonwealth Games gold medallists in athletics
Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics
Athletes (track and field) at the 2002 Commonwealth Games
Athletes (track and field) at the 2006 Commonwealth Games
British Athletics Championships winners
AAA Championships winners
People educated at St Edmund's College, Ware
Alumni of the University of Bristol
World Athletics Championships athletes for Great Britain
{{UK-athletics-bio-stub