|
Sally Gunnell's domination of the 400m hurdles event in the early 1990's
reached its pinnacle when she won the 1994 European title at Helsinki.
At that point in time, Gunnell held the unique honour amongst female
athletes of simultaneously holding the Olympic, World, European and
Commonwealth titles, and as an added bonus, she was also the world
record holder. In order to maintain this situation, Gunnell needed to
successfully defend each title as the opportunity arose, as she did when
she retained her Commonwealth title later that year. However, all good
things must invariably come to an end, and Gunnell was unable to
compete during 1995 due to foot injuries, preventing her from defending
her world title at Gothenburg.
She appeared to have successfully
returned to competition in 1996, with a win at the European Cup in
Madrid in early June, and a victory in the AAA Championships at
Birmingham on 16 June in her season's best time of 54.65sec. However,
she suffered a setback when her injuries recurred at a meet in Lausanne
in early July, and although she seemed to have recovered by the time she
arrived at the Olympic Games in Atlanta, she broke down again in her
semi-final, putting her out of action for the rest of the season.
Gunnell bravely attempted another comeback in 1997, and provided some
encouraging signs at the World Championships in Athens when she finished
second in her heat (see photo above) on 5 August in 54.53sec,
her fastest time for three years.
However, this proved to be the last
race of Sally's illustrious career, as she re-injured herself warming
down afterwards, which caused her to withdraw from the remainder of the
competition, and later, to announce her retirement. (Ron Casey)
|