2002 COMMONWEALTH GAMES 4x400m FINAL

So this is it, arguably my greatest moment in athletics (its hard to beat running at the Olympic Games) but winning a medal in the style we did here was another level from almost anything I have ever experienced! Here is the story from my point of view...

We had qualified well (see semi final video for that story) and the way the athletics programme had panned out that final evening there were medals galore for England. I was racing in my home country and in the region I am from. A northern athlete racing in the Commonwealth Games final in the North of England. In some respects to finish on anything less than a gold medal would have been an anti-climax to the whole games. We needed the help of the crowd - we got it, we need to run for each other - we did!

Winning a Commonwealth medal was always an aim and I always enjoyed running for England and tended to do well in that vest. England Athletics had funded me that year so this was my main aim as a championship.

The tactic was simple. We discussed this and agreed to how it was going to be done. I had no influence over what position Daniel would be in come the last leg, but I could get Sean in as good a position as possible. Sean did the same for Chris - don't let your next runner down - set him up well to be able to do his job. Chris did that for Daniel. Watch the race, you can see this in the running, we did it for each other.

At the end we didn't know if we had won. We thought we had but didn't want to be the team that celebrated and thought we had won and then hadn't (erm see the footage of the Welsh team). So we waited. Stood together looking up at the score board with 40,000 others in the stadium. It stayed blank for what seemed an eternity. There was less than an inch in it but the screen flashed up ENGLAND. You can hear the crowd noise and then we were off around the track. Thanks went to Graham Hedman, Cori Henry and Mark Hylton who had been part of the squad and either not ran or ran in the heats. We have all been there and acknowledge the supporting role they played.

Lap of honour! What a feeling. It feels so real as every sense is alive, but so unreal at the same time - did we actually do it? Will there be some snag or technicality that will stop it? Take it in and enjoy the moment.

Видео 2002 COMMONWEALTH GAMES 4x400m FINAL канала tinsoldieruk