Iwan Thomas Interview
A former European Champion, Commonwealth Champion,
World Cup winner and current British Record Holder.
A late starter to the world of Athletics, preferring to concentrate on BMX bike riding (ranked fourth in Europe). However he did start his athletics career in 1992 when he represented the British 4x400m relay team at the World Junior Championships, helping them to 5th place.
In 1997 Iwan claimed his first UK Championship title in Birmingham beating Olympic silver medallist Roger Black and setting a new British record. He then went on to win the European Cup 4x400m relay; he came sixth in the World Championships in Athens and won silver in the 4x400m relay. 1998 was a year to remember for Iwan. He launched himself into the season with a number of Grand Prix victories; this was followed by victories in the European Cup and in the 4x400m relay. Iwan then went on to the European Championships in Budapest winning Gold in the 400m and in the 4x400m.
Success at the World Cup in South Africa later in the year was particularly satisfying representing Europe against the other continents of the World. In what must have seemed an endless year, Iwan flew straight to the Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur where he became champion of the Commonwealth and bought a bronze medal home for Wales in the 4x400m.
After several years of injuries Iwan battled to a Silver Medal in the Commonwealth Games in 2002.
Iwan is sponsored by KSwiss and has modelled for various clothing brands. He rides a Ducati 1098 and he was awarded an MBE in 1999 and had a Madamme Tussauds wax work later that year.
Iwan Thomas Interview
Well it was going well but it was cut short with injury, perhaps that was my destiny, I did have 3 or 4 really good years then my body kept breaking, I guess that’s the nature of the 400 metres, I keep myself fit and I still try to keep active although I don’t compete athletics wise anymore I still try to do other things and I’m actually on my way to do a triathlon this evening and I just like to give myself challenges...
Yes I’m actually an ambassador for Macmillan which I’m really proud to do and I’m very fortunate that I’m in a position where people notice if I turn up for an event and I run... if I can help spread the word about good charities like McMillan then I’m proud to do that. Whenever I run I usually wear the bright green vest of Macmillan and normally get a big cheer for doing so... There’s millions of worthy charities out there but in particular I think Macmillan and their nurses do a great job, I’m very fortunate to be able to help them.
I lost a friend about 5 years ago and my granddad dies of cancer, unfortunately I think it is one of those illnesses that will effect each and every one of us at some point in our lives and when Macmillan asked me I jumped at the chance.
Yes, I’m starting the race then I plan to quickly get onto the start line and join in... you know - I’m very competitive which is the reason I’m not just starting it, I ran a 10k recently and did a really bad time, starting the race was never an option for me, I told the organisers, "Yes I’ll start it but you’ve got to let me run in it as well"...
I’m not very good at long distance if I’m honest and it’s one of those things where having been an X-Athlete everyone assumes you can just run it, when I did the London Marathon people are usually surprised to see me in a lot of trouble after about 10 miles, I think I’m ok at 10k, it’s a nice distance because it’s not too far, but I’m never going to be that good at it.
ha-ha, everyone races me, doesn’t matter where I go... especially when you come up to the markers and it might say 400 meters to go, that’s the worst for me, everyone wants to race me from there, people forget, I’m 37, I’m not that fit anymore and I imagine I’ll be getting beat by a lot of people in Manchester on 3rd July but that’s ok - I’m competing against myself and hopefully I’ll run ok.
Well my best time for a 10k is 40 minutes and 1 second so I’d love to go under 40 but if I’m honest I’m not in that kinda shape, I think I’ll run at around 42/43 minutes or something like that.
Why are you not running?
No, no-one’s too old for 10k, you can run with me and if you hold me back I’ll just speed off, I’ll speak to organisers and arrange to get you a place.
That’s true, I was very young at the time, it was my babysitter who told me to try and get a BMX for Christmas as there’s going to be a BMX track built in our village, so I got one and within a year I was ranked number two in the UK. I was one of those kids that was annoyingly good at all sports, my friends used to call me ‘County’ because I was County standard at most sports I tried, it’s still an ongoing joke with my friends. I loved all sports, Football, Rugby, Running, Cross country, BMX’ing, you name it; I did it. I couldn’t wait for the lunch time bell to ring so I could play Football with my mates.
I don’t know who’s doing it this year, the T.V. Times always send a really good charity team, they normally have a lot of actors from Emmerdale and Coronation Street and some of them are good runners, so yeah, we can expect some good times, as I said before, 10k is a fun distance and you can give it a bit of welly, it’s just over 6 miles and I suspect some of the actors will be running good times.
I think go off quite steadily for the first couple of k, I’ve made the mistake many times where I’ve started front he front with the Kenyan elite athletes and I’ve gone off way to fast and I end up blowing up and it really does hurt. My advice would be – find a nice steady rhythm, don’t run too fast and most of all remember why you’re doing it. Put a nice big smile on your face and enjoy the sights of Manchester and I think it will be a great day.
Well that would be great, it really does help if you’ve got people cheering you on. I always tell people to put their name on the vest, it is really nice to hear your name from the crowd, if the race is beginning to hurt and your legs are like jelly and you’ve got a mile to go, if you hear you name it gives you that extra support that’s really good.
Yes, I’ve done a few bits, there have been some programmes I’ve regretted doing and there’s been some good programmes too. When I started picking up a few sporting injury’s I realised I would have to start carving out a new career. I’ve got a show on C4 called ‘That Paralympics show’ on Saturdays, I work with a great team on that and it gives me the chance to meet some great Paralympians.
No, I loved it, I’ve been on it showing my house and as a panellist, it’s a great day’s filming and you get to nose around people’s houses and then guess who it is, I’d say that wasn’t embarrassing I really enjoyed ‘Thought the keyhole’
Oh, I loved it! I think I‘m the only person in the history of ‘Hole in the wall’ that asked for the silver suit to be tighter! Ha-ha, yes ‘Hole in the wall’ was good fun.
Oh, massive regret! It’s a good programme but when we were warming up practising questions the day before filming I was nailing every sports question so I said to my team I’ll take sports against ‘Daphne’ because she’s rubbish at sports, but she beat me! I wasn’t happy.
‘Total Wipe-out’ yeah, that was a trip to Argentina, couple of weeks in the sun, I was determined to get past those big red balls, really enjoyed it.
Yeah, I loved it, probably the best show I’ve ever done, I found out a lot about myself, it was really hard work, very long days filming and I ended up coming runner-up so I did a lot better than anyone thought I would. John and Greg – lovely people, the production crew, everyone, I loved it.
Aw, thank you.
You’re probably talking to the wrong Athlete because my diet isn’t good if I’m perfectly honest with you, in fact it’s something I need to sort out.
I was partial to the odd McDonalds and Burger King
Yes, as a 400 metre runner you need a lot of energy and my general rule of thumb was to eat often and eat lots, I was partial to the odd McDonalds and Burger King, my diet was far from great but I was burning it off, when you’re training 6 days a week and you’re training hard you can get away with eating anything really.
I don’t have a signature dish as such, I like cooking everything, the one thing I learnt from Master Chef was to use a lot more spices, John and Greg would say “If you’re going to make something hot, make it HOT!”
Ha-ha Yes, but I’m not telling you which one, it was a late night debate show, questions were coming in and it was just Football and more Football and nothing to do with Athletics, I’ll be honest with you, I did nod-off and then a question came across out of the blue about Athletics and I was like – Oops, hello!
I really like Manchester, I’ve done a lot of filming here, I’ve just filmed a programme in Manchester called destination 2012, I am quite touristy when I’m in Manchester, I go to Deansgate Locks if I fancy a little pint, yeah I’m very fond of the city, the people are really very nice.
Yes, you northerners are the best! I used to live in the midlands and I can honestly say that northern people are far friendlier than those in the south, I’ll probably get into trouble for saying that but every time I’ve been to Manchester people have been brilliant, It’s buzzin’ It’s trendy and I’m really looking forward to visiting again.
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Interview by
Research by Maxine Goulding
