Early life

Gunnell was born in Chigwell, Essex, England and grew up on her parents' farm and attended the local primary and West Hatch High schools in Chigwell.

Athletics career

Gunnell started out in athletics with the Essex Ladies club as an accomplished long jumper and heptathlete, before specialising in hurdling. In 1984, she narrowly missed Olympic selection at both heptathlon, with a score of 5680 points and in the 100 metres hurdles, where she set a UK junior record of 13.30 secs.

In 1986, having won the AAAs and UK titles, Gunnell won the Commonwealth Games gold medal in the 100 metres hurdles in Edinburgh, ahead of Wendy Jeal and 1984 Olympic heptathlon champion Glynis Nunn. She would remain the UK number one in the event over the next four seasons and reach the semi-finals at the 1987 World Championships and 1988 Olympics in the event.

Gunnell first attempted the 400 m hurdles event in 1987, with a 59.9 clocking. In 1988, in her first full season at the event, she would reach the Olympic final in Seoul. At the Olympic trials in Birmingham, she broke the UK record with 55.40. In Seoul she would improve this twice, first to 54.48 in the semis then to 54.03, to finish fifth in the final. This would remain her best time in the event for three years.

In 1989, Gunnell won the European Indoor title at 400 metres. Outdoors, she finished second in the 400 m hurdles at the European Cup behind East Germany's Petra Krug, but ahead of Olympic silver medallist Tatyana Ledovskaya. In September at the World Cup, she was third behind Sandra Farmer-Patrick of the USA and Ledovsakya, but this time ahead of Krug. In January 1990, she defeated 1988 Olympic champion Debbie Flintoff-King to win the Commonwealth title in Auckland. The 1990 summer season however was disappointing, when she only finished sixth at the European Championships.

Gunnell entered into the best phase of her career in 1991, improving her own three-year-old UK record three times. In Monte Carlo she ran 53.78, in Zurich she ran 53.63, then at the World Championships in Tokyo, she won the silver medal behind Ledovskaya with 53.16, the then third fastest time of all-time. Ledovskaya won with 53.11.

Gunnell won the 400 m hurdles at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, running 53.23 to defeat Sandra Farmer-Patrick. She also anchored the British 4 × 400 m quartet to a bronze medal. In 1993, she reached her peak, when she set the world record in the 400 hurdles to win gold in the World Championships in Stuttgart, winning in 52.74, narrowly ahead of Farmer-Patrick who ran 52.79, also inside the old record. This record was broken by Kim Batten in 1995, but is still the British record.

In 1994, Gunnell added the European title to her collection, winning comfortably in 53.33. She also won the Goodwill Games ahead of Kim Batten, successfully defended her Commonwealth title and won the World Cup title in London. 1994 was her third (and final) year as the world's number one. She missed most of 1995 due to injury, an injury from which she would never fully recover. Her defence of her Olympic title in Atlanta in 1996 was cut short when she pulled up injured in the semi-finals. This seemed a particularly cruel blow, as this race occurred on her 30th birthday. Also in 1996, she worked as a Red Cross ambassador in Angola. In September 1997, she retired after a recurrence of an Achilles tendon injury forced her to pull out of the World Championships semi-final.

Gunnell remains the only woman to have won the European, World, Commonwealth and Olympic 400 metre hurdles titles.

Gunnell is now involved as one of the ambassadors for McCain's Track & Field partnership with UK Athletics.

Television

She was one of the four celebrity guests in the ITV's You Bet! - Series 7 (1993-94), co-winning with Michaela Strachan, donating her winnings to a charity working to find a cure for breast cancer. In 1997, she was the recipient of the "big red book" on the This is Your Life programme.

In summer 2006, she was a celebrity showjumper in the BBC's Sport Relief event Only Fools on Horses. She also won a Weakest Link Sporting Heroes Special, first broadcast on Saturday 25 July 2009 on BBC One.

She took part in a celebrity version of TV show Total Wipeout which aired on 2 January 2010.

In 2012, Gunnell took part on ITV's The Cube and won £20,000 for her charity.

Recognition

In the 1993 New Year Honours, Gunnell was made an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) and in the 1998 Queen's Birthday Honours, she was made an OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire). In 2011, Gunnell was appointed Deputy Lieutenant of West Sussex.

In 2012 Sally was one of five Olympians chosen as part of a series body-casting artworks by Louise Giblin exhibited in London and copies being sold in aid of the charity Headfirst.

Personal life

She is married to fellow athlete Jonathan Bigg, and has three sons; Finley, Luca and Marley. She lives in Steyning, in West Sussex, just outside Brighton.

Achievements

• 7-times AAAs 100 m hurdles champion (1986-1989, 1991-1993)
• 2-time AAAs 400 m hurdles champion (1988, 1996)
• 2-time UK Champion - 100 m hurdles (1986) 400 m hurdles (1997)
• 2-time AAAs Indoor Champion - 200 m (1987) 400 m (1988)

Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Event	Notes
Representing Great Britain / England
1983	European Junior Championships	Schwechat, Austria	13th	Heptathlon	5395
1986	Commonwealth Games	Edinburgh, Scotland	1st	100 m hurdles	13.29
	European Championships	Stuttgart, West Germany	17th (h)	100 m hurdles	13.22
1987	World Championships	Rome, Italy	semi-final	100 m hurdles	13.06
1988	European Indoor Championships	Budapest, Hungary	4th	400 m	51.77
	Olympic Games	Seoul, South Korea	semi-final	100 m hurdles	13.13
			5th	400 m hurdles	54.03
			6th	4 × 400 m	3:26.89
1989	European Indoor Championships	The Hague, Netherlands	1st	400 m	52.04
	World Indoor Championships	Budapest, Hungary	6th	400 m	52.60
	World Cup	Barcelona, Spain	3rd	400 m hurdles	55.25
1990	Commonwealth Games	Auckland, New Zealand	2nd	100 m hurdles	13.12
			1st	400 m hurdles	55.38
			1st	4 × 400 m	3:28.08
	European Indoor Championships	Glasgow, Scotland	4th	400 m	53.38
	European Championships	Split, Yugoslavia	6th	400 m hurdles	55.45
			3rd	4 × 400 m	3:24.78
1991	World Championships	Tokyo, Japan	2nd	400 m hurdles	53.16
			4th	4 × 400 m	3:22.01
1992	Olympic Games	Barcelona, Spain	1st	400 m hurdles	53.23
			3rd	4 × 400 m	3:24.23
1993	World Championships	Stuttgart, Germany	1st	400 m hurdles	52.74
			3rd	4 × 400 m	3:23.41
1994	European Championships	Helsinki, Finland	1st	400 m hurdles	53.33
			4th	4 × 400 m	3:24.14
	Commonwealth Games	Victoria, Canada	1st	400 m hurdles	54.51
			1st	4 × 400 m	3:27.06
	World Cup	London, England	1st	400 m hurdles	54.80
			1st	4 × 400 m	3:27.36
1996	Olympic Games	Atlanta, United States	semi-final	400 m hurdles	DNF
1997	World Indoor Championships	Paris, France	heats	400 m	53.05
			6th	4 × 400 m	3:32.25
	World Championships	Athens, Greece	semi-final	400 m hurdles	DNS

[ Source: Wikipedia ]