Episode 10

full
Published on:

21st Jan 2021

Iwan Thomas with some great stories and sobering thoughts

Iwan Thomas is one of the characters of athletics....with his distinct hair as flamboyant 400m runner and now as a TV and stadium presenter.

There is so much to Iwan Thomas and he freely talks about all aspects of his life - from his days competing to his post-athletics life.

He talks about how he lives his life, surrounding himself with good friends and good people.

He won silver at the World Athletics Championships in the 4x400m relay but this was eventually upgraded to gold because two of the American team admitted to take performance enhancing drugs.

Iwan feels he's never been properly recognised with the team. He was given a form of medal in a car park in Birmingham. It makes him sad that they've never had their moment in the limelight.

There are lots of great stories; from an altercation in a Southampton nightclub to drinking free beers to help give a sample for a drugs test.

Iwan had many battles with injury during his career, missing the Athens Olympics and Melbourne Commonwealth Games. He tells us how he struggled mentally to cope with with his physical injuries and shut himself away suffering depression. He went on to make a video with Prince Harry to help others with mental health issues.

He also had a traumatic time soon after his little boy Teddy was born. Within hours of being born little Teddy was taken into intensive care with Strep B. For ten days it was incredibly serious. Iwan now does all he can to raise awareness of the condition.

We'd love to hear from you if you have any comments or guest suggestions

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Show artwork for Track & Ball with Ellen White and Richard Whitehead

About the Podcast

Track & Ball with Ellen White and Richard Whitehead
England footballer Ellen White and Paralympic Gold Medal winner Richard Whitehead give a real insight into the world of elite sport
We're going to take you into the world of elite sport and give you a real insight in to what it's like to step over the white line and compete against the best. The athletes, the coaches, the support staff.

So who are we? Ellen White is a footballer with Manchester City and England. Ellen's got three world cups to her name and his England's leading all-time goal scorer in that competition.

Richard Whitehead MBE is a double gold winning athlete at the Paralympics, including a memorable day at the London Games in 2012. He's also set the world record for a double leg amputee in the marathon and half marathon.

Follow us @trackandballpod and let us know what you think!

Ellen and Richard