|
Sally Gunnell experienced the highs and lows of her sport during 1986
when she won the Commonwealth 100m hurdles title at Edinburgh on 1
August, but was eliminated in the heats at the European Championships
less than four weeks later. The following year, she improved her
personal best to 13.01sec on 4 July, but was eliminated at the World
Championships in Rome when she finished 6th in her semi-final. Sally
also ran in her first 400m hurdles event in 1987, winning in 59.90sec
for the Essex Ladies, the local team she had first joined as a junior,
and to which she would remain intensely loyal throughout her
international career. Gunnell rapidly improved in the 400m hurdles
during 1988, providing her with somewhat of a dilemma, as she also made
improvement in the 100m hurdles, setting a new UK national record of
12.82sec.
However, she improved the national record for the 400m
hurdles on four occasions, culminating in a best of 54.03sec when she
finished fifth in the Olympic final in Seoul. In contrast, she only
finished fifth in her semi-final of the 100m hurdles at Seoul, a result
which no doubt influenced her decision to compete almost exclusively in
the longer event from the following season onwards. After a third place
finish in the 400m hurdles at the World Cup in 1989, Gunnell competed
at the 1990 Commonwealth Games in Auckland, where the field included the
reigning Olympic Champion, Debbie Flintoff-King (Australia). In the
final, on 29 January, Gunnell (see photo above, No. 0311), easily
won the gold medal from Flintoff-King (No. 0031) in a time of 55.38sec.
Despite having virtually abandoned the 100m hurdles by this stage of
her career, Gunnell also contested that event at Auckland, winning the
silver medal. She went on to win a third medal as a member of England's
victorious 4 x 400m relay team. (Ron Casey)
|