Former 400m Olympic Champion Sally Gunnell OBE enjoyed a phenomenally successful career where she held nearly every title there is to claim within her sport; Olympic Gold, World Championship titles, World Cups, European Championships and four consecutive European Cup victories, not to mention five Commonwealth titles, Sally Gunnell is undoubtedly one of the best female athletes to have ever been produced by this country. Retiring in 1997 through persistent injuries, Gunnell turned her attentions to media commitments and her role as a speaker, specifically as an Olympic Speaker and after dinner speaker, as well as a role as an ambassador for UK Sport.
An eloquent sports speaker, Gunnell set the World Record for the 400m hurdles in 1993- still to this day her time is the British record. After life as a professional athlete had come to an end, Gunnell began to undertake a multitude of media and commercial commitments, notably becoming a regular presenter with BBC helping with their athletics and sports coverage.
Since leaving BBC in 2006, Gunnell has gone onto feature on shows including ITV's The Cube and Total Wipeout in aid of charity, she has also become a favourite within the speaker circuit, specifically as an Olympic speaker. Her experiences at the top of her game and on the top of the podium have set her in good stead as a favourite after dinner speaker guest. An exceptional role model to athletes, especially women, Sally Gunnell is a talented after dinner speaker with the ability to capsulate the audience and delivers an unrivalled service throughout her appearances at any event, occasion or conference.
Exceptionally gifted as a sports speaker and well respected as an Olympic speaker, Sally Gunnell is proving to be a phenomenally popular addition to all events. Delivering as an after dinner guest and keynote speaker, she is able to capture the imagination and attention of the audience flawlessly throughout.
Watch our exclusive interview with Sally Gunnel to see the athletics icon in action!
Books
Running Tall
Be Your Best: 8 ways to * build confidence * lose weight * beat stress * get fit
How to hire Sally Gunnell
Contact the Champions Speakers Agency to provisionally enquire about hiring Sally Gunnell for your next event, today. To get in touch, simply call an official booking agent on 0207 1010 553 or email us at [email protected] for more information.
** We do not accept requests for autographs, signed merchandise, fan mail, birthday messages or any other non-commercial contact with the speakers or acts. Each speaker on the website may not have necessarily worked with Champions in the past but are known to perform such engagements within the industry.
When at corporate events, Sally is known to cover the following topics:
- Creating the Qualities of High Performance
- Personal Development
- Sustaining Excellence
- Wellbeing
- Mental Health in the Workplace
"We received fantastic feedback in relation to Sally’s presentation and her story – she really was brilliant! Sally was so approachable and personable, and the fact that she took the time to network with our colleagues before the conference started was very well received. Sally had us all engaged, and the confident, relatable delivery of her story was very inspiring. I would absolutely recommend her" - Kat, Aston Lark
“A brilliant presentation. You inspired, captured and motivated the imagination of everyone in the room. You have set a very high standard for future opening speakers”- Virgin Atlantic
"Sally was certainly a highlight. Her speech was amazing and everyone in the room was hanging on to her every word. Even the younger attendees who may not have known Sally were totally engaged throughout the speech. I spoke to quite a few people over lunch and all said how inspirational she was. Please pass on our thanks to Sally for an incredible job." - Ann ManPower Group
"Sally was extremely natural and engaging which helped our colleagues and clients immediately settle into the event. There was a feeling of familiarity right from the start with Sally but also something very special having a national sporting icon talk to us directly and honestly. The subjects discussed touched diversity, racism, motivation and determination, mental well-being, the Olympics, coming up in sport. Varied and inclusive for all with some nice overlaps into the corporate world. I obviously loved having a special audience for 5 minutes at the start with a sporting heroine from my sprinting days at Loughborough and curly hair chat!" - Elena, Director, Strategy & Market Development, Thomson Reuters
"Sally is one of the most inspirational and motivating speakers we’ve ever had join us on our TechWomen programme, one of BT’s key diversity programmes. Throughout the past 12 months, Sally has joined us numerous times on our programme and our TechWomen always love her stories. More recently, Sally created a bespoke session for us around mental fitness which went down a storm. Sally always gets on board with your goals and objectives to make sure your attendees get the most out of their time with her and is an absolute joy to work with!" - Rachel, Talent Programme Manager, BT
"Sally joined us for our 2021 kickoff meeting and it was the perfect way to start the new year with the team. It was over zoom, of course, but that did not take away one bit. She was so engaging, funny, and extraordinarily inspirational. We're an HR tech company but Sally did a wonderful job of tying her Olympic experience to ours as individuals. We highly recommend having Sally join you for a speech!" - Amanda, Project Manager, Apploi
"Sally was the ideal speaker to engage our audience of HR Directors. Our company regularly engages with HR Directors and are always trying to find a topic and speaker who will resonate with them. Sally delivered a highly interactive talk on 'resilience' explaining to our audience of HR Directors the challenges she overcame in her athletic career and how this translated into her business career. Sally provided an ideal blend of theory and practice, which resonated perfectly with the audience. I would thoroughly recommend Sally to other organisations.” - Kevin, Global Head of Marketing, Leathwaite
