Steve Backley formerly held the world record, and his 91.46-metre throw from 1992 is the British record.
17 Facts About Steve Backley
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Steve Backley 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.
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Steve Backley was educated at Hurst Primary School, Bexley, and later at Bexley and Erith Technical High School for Boys in his teens.
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Steve Backley was a member of Cambridge Harriers Athletics club, and competed for Bexley in the London Youth Games.
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Steve Backley enrolled at Loughborough University in October 1988 to study for a BSc Honours degree in physical education, sports science and recreation management.
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In 1988, Steve Backley won the silver medal at the 1988 World Junior Championships.
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In July 1990, Steve Backley set a world record of 89.58m in Stockholm, Sweden.
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The records set by Zelezny and Raty, as well as Steve 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.
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Steve Backley then set another world record of 91.46m in January 1992 in New Zealand, a record which stood until the following year when it was bettered by Zelezny.
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Steve Backley started the year recovering from knee surgery throwing 82.19m against the US in Glasgow, Scotland.
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Steve Backley had trailed behind Latvian Eriks Rags and American Breaux Greer who had both produced personal bests before he pulled out a huge 90.81 with his final throw.
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Steve Backley was awarded the MBE in the 1995 New Year's Honours list, and then an OBE in 2003.
13.
Steve Backley was inducted into the London Youth Games Hall of Fame in 2009.
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Steve Backley was on a special Olympic medal winners version of Jungle Run.
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Steve Backley competed in the 2008 edition of Dancing on Ice with partner Susie Lipanova.
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Steve Backley survived three consecutive skate-offs against Samantha Mumba, Aggie MacKenzie and Tim Vincent.
17.
However, Steve Backley ended up in the skate-off for the fourth time in a row, where he lost out to Zaraah Abrahams and her partner Fred Palascak after the judges chose to save her.