Brendan Foster

Brendan Foster is a former British Olympian long-distance runner known for winning bronze in the 1976 Montreal Olympics and gold in the Commonwealth Games two years later; his experience as a successful sportsman, businessman and TV personality all serve to make Brendan Foster an excellent choice for an Olympian speaker or after dinner speaker at any sporting or athletics event.

Awarded an MBE in the 1970’s and a CBE in 2008 Foster is also known as the founder of the immensely popular Great North Run, a long distance run held annually in the North of England, and also as the founder of the first ever British fun run in his home town of Gateshead. These forays into the business side of the sporting world provide Foster with a unique angle on which to give advice as an Olympian speaker, keynote speaker or event host.

Foster retired from the sport after competing in the 1980 Moscow Olympics and has since turned his attention to business and charity work. Shortly after retiring from athletics Foster was made European MD of the sporting brand Nike and several years later set up his own business, View From International, which he subsequently sold to British department store Marks and Spencer’s.

Not only has Foster been hugely influential to British athletes, but he has been integral to the introduction and development of some of the newest athletes to join the Ethiopian and African Olympic teams and has also helped to raise millions of pounds for various British and global charities. As of 1983, Foster has become heavily involved with the BBC, turning his talents to sports speaking and commentating on sporting events and programmes, he is probably most well-known as a TV presenter and for reporting on the London Marathon and the 2012 Olympic Games in London.