Steve Backley

Stephen James Backley, OBE (born 12 February 1969) is a retired British track and field athlete who competed in the javelin throw.

Backley's first significant title, was won in 1987 when he threw 75.14 metres to pick up the European junior title, ahead of Vladimir Sasimovich (73.24) of Russia and East German Raymond Hecht (72.78).

He enrolled at Loughborough University in October 1988 to study for a BSc Honours degree in physical education, sports science and recreation management.

In 1988, Backley won the silver medal at the 1988 World Junior Championships.

He also broke the world junior record that year.

In July 1990, Backley set a world record of 89.58m in Stockholm, Sweden.

The record was then bettered by the Czech thrower Jan Železný a few weeks later, but Backley then regained the record with a throw 90.98m at Crystal Palace, London, to end the year as the world record holder.

As a consequence, the world record reverted to the 89.58m mark that Backley had set in 1990.

Finland's Seppo Räty then bettered the record in 1991.

The records set by Železný and Räty, as well as Backley's 90.98m throw, had all been made using new 'Nemeth' javelins, however in August 1991 the IAAF declared this type of javelin illegal and all records set using them were retrospectively deleted.

He formerly held the world record, and his 91.46 m throw from 1992 is the British record.

During his career, he was a firm fixture in the British national athletics team.

He won four gold medals at the European Championships, three Commonwealth Games gold medals, two silvers and a bronze at the Olympic Games, and two silvers at the World Championships.

Currently, he is an occasional commentator for athletics competitions, especially the field events.

Backley was educated at Hurst Primary School, Bexley, and later at Bexley and Erith Technical High School for Boys (now Beths Grammar School) in his teens.

He was a member of the South East London-based Cambridge Harriers Athletics club, and competed for Bexley in the London Youth Games.

Backley then set another world record of 91.46m in January 1992 in New Zealand, a record which stood until 1993, when it was bettered by Železný.

Backley started the year recovering from knee surgery throwing 82.19m against the U.S. in Glasgow, Scotland.

The injury forced him to withdraw from the European Cup Super League meeting in Gateshead, England in early July.

Due to injury his second competition came in August, taking second (85.84m) to Finlands Aki Parviainen in the Norwich Union Grand Prix and improved to 86.70m in winning the AAA Championship.

At Sydney, Australia for the 2000 Summer Olympics he beat the qualifying mark with his very first throw (83.74m), although the favourite, Jan Železný, threw an enormous qualifying throw of 89.39m.

In the final, Backley set a new Olympic record with his second throw of 89.95m, but in the third round two-time champion Železný threw a distance of 90.17m.

Subsequent rounds did not see improvements from either competitor and again Železný won the gold medal ahead of Backley.

Sergey Makarov took bronze.

With the 2001 World Championships in Athletics to look forward to, he threw over ninety metres for the first time since 1992 at the British Grand Prix at Crystal Palace on 22 July.

He had trailed behind Latvian Ēriks Rags (86.47) and American Breaux Greer (85.91) who had both produced personal bests before he pulled out a huge 90.81 with his final throw.

This should have given him an enormous for boost for the worlds in Edmonton, but on 10 August Backley had not taken his A-game to the show.

He could only manage 81.50 in the qualifying rounds and when both pools had finished this left him way down in thirteenth place.

One consolation was that his teammate Mick Hill had qualified well, but even this good news was short lived as Mick unfortunately picked up an injury and only managed to record one distance in the final, finishing last.

Jan Železný took gold with a championship record of 92.80 ahead of Aki Parviainen (91.31) and Konstadinós Gatsioúdis of Greece (89.95).

American, Breaux Greer once again increased his personal best to 87.00 in finishing one place outside the medals.

Such was his disgust at his performance he had been contemplating retirement but re-appeared in Gateshead, for the Norwich Union Classic and gained a little revenge by beating world silver medallist Aki Parviainen with a throw of 86.74.

Of his six throws this day five of them would have qualified for final nine days earlier.

Backley then travelled to Brisbane in September to take part in the Goodwill Games but despite leading after two rounds, the up and down season continued and he could not improve to leave Jan Železný on top once again ahead of Ēriks Rags and Breaux Greer.

It was going to be a busy with two major back-to-back competitions, the Commonwealth Games on 25 July – 4 August and the European Championships on 6–11 August.

On 31 July was the first test and with no major competition he knew that he had reclaimed his Commonwealth title after his very first throw of 86.81 in the City of Manchester Stadium.

Runner up Scott Russell of Canada was nearly eight metres back with (78.98) and England's bronze medallist Nick Nieland managed only 78.63.

This gave Backley a hat-trick of Commonwealth titles.

Although he completed his first year there and remained a student until 2002, the time he dedicated to the javelin prevented him from completing his studies.

However, on 16 December 2002 Loughborough University honoured him with the degree of Doctor of Technology honoris causa.