Steve Ovett
Ovett in Toronto (1986)
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| Nationality |
British English |
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| Born |
9 October 1955 Brighton, Sussex |
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| Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Track | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Event(s) | 1500 metres, Mile | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Achievements and titles | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal best(s) |
800 metres: 1:44.09 1500 metres: 3:30.77 Mile: 3:48.40 3000 metres: 7:41.3 2-mile: 8:13.51 |
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Medal record
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Stephen Michael James "Steve" Ovett OBE (/oʊˈvɛt/; born 9 October 1955), is a former middle-distance runner from England. He was gold medalist in the 800 metres at the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow, and set world records for 1500 metres and the mile run.
Born in Brighton, Sussex, and educated at Varndean Grammar School (now Varndean College), Ovett was a talented teenage athlete. As a youngster, he showed great promise as a footballer, but gave it up for athletics, because he did not want to play a sport where he would have to rely on teammates.
He set 6 world records as a senior and 1 world record as a junior. His first major athletics title came in 1973, when he won the European junior 800 m, followed the next year in Rome with a silver in the senior event. He won AAA titles in the 800m from 1974 to 1976, in the 1500m in 1979 and in the mile in 1980. At age 18, he won the silver medal at 800 metres in the 1974 European Athletics Championships, setting a new European Junior 800m record of 1:45.77 in the process.
Ovett gained some Olympic experience in 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Canada when he ran in the final of the 800m and was placed fifth, behind winner Alberto Juantorena of Cuba. Ovett finished fifth because he ran the first lap too slowly. He failed to reach the 1500 m final, having been obstructed in the semi-final when Canadian athlete Dave Hill fell and Ovett had to hurdle over him. As this happened with only 120m to the finish, Ovett had little time to recover, and was out-sprinted to the line by fellow countryman, Dave Moorcroft, with Ovett finishing only sixth.
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Wikipedia