Steve Cram
Steve Cram ( born October 14, 1960 in Gateshead, England) is a former British athlete, who competed for Jarrow. He was a member of the strong group of British middle -distance runners, who dominated the international competitions in the 1980s. Cram was the first man who ran the 1500 m at 3:30 min.
At the age of 19 he took in Moscow for the first time in the Olympic Summer Games in part, finished the race over 1500 meters but only one of the rear seats.
His breakthrough with the world leaders he succeeded in 1982, when he first became European champion in the 1500 meters and shortly thereafter won the race at the Commonwealth Games. The following year, he also won at the inaugural World Championships and became the BBC Sports Personality of the Year, Sportsman of the Year in the UK, was elected.
An Olympic gold medal remained Cram fails. Not at his best, he was defeated at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles his compatriot and defending champion Sebastian Coe.
At the peak of its power curve Cram improved on 16 July 1985 in Nice the more than two -year-old world record of his compatriot Steve Ovett over 1500 meters by more than a second 3:29,67 minutes. In this duel with the Moroccan Saïd Aouita he was the very first and Aouita as the second person of the 3:30 -minute mark of 1,500 m. Eleven days later, on July 27, 1985, he presented at the Bislett Games in Oslo over a mile to a new world record and improved the four -year-old record of Sebastian Coe to a second on 3:46,32 minutes.
In Edinburgh at the Commonwealth Games in 1986 Cram won both medium-range, each with more than one second ahead. At the European Championships 1986, he won bronze in the 800 meters behind Coe and the Scots Tom McKean. About 1500 meters he won against Coe and defended his title in 1982.
Then Cram was often injured and could only occasionally show his class. At the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, he missed fourth in 3:36,24 minutes the bronze medal by three hundredths of a second. At the European Championships 1990, he was fifth again.
Cram now works mainly for the BBC as a television presenter and commentator for athletics events.