Allyn Condon
Encyclopedia
Allyn Condon is an English former sprinter
and current bobsleigh
er. At the Vancouver Olympic Games in 2010 he became the second person to have competed for Great Britain in both the summer and winter Olympic games
having already competed in the Sydney Olympics in 2000.
s at the European Youth Olympics in Brussels in 1991 at the age of 16 and then was part of the winning 4 x 400 metres relay
team at the European Junior Championships
in the same year.
In 1992 he ran first leg in the 4 x 100 metres relay
team that took gold at the World Junior Championships
in South Korea
, breaking the European junior record in the process. He became one of the youngest sportsmen ever to be selected to compete for Great Britain
at the World Cup
in Cuba
were at the age of 18 he won a bronze medal
, his first as a senior athlete.
He was the 200 metres
bronze medalist at the 1998 European Athletics Indoor Championships and won 4x100 m relay gold medals at the 1998 European Cup and 1998 IAAF World Cup and 1998 European Athletics Championships.
The following year he won a 4x100 m relay bronze at the 1999 IAAF World Indoor Championships
and outdoors won the a silver medal in the event at the 1999 World Championships in Athletics
. At that competitionin he also ran first leg in the 4 x 400 m relay team that broke the British indoor record
and won a bronze medal. He still holds the British record and is still ranked 5th on the UK all time 200 m indoor rankings.
In 2000 he was selected for his first Olympic Games
in Sydney
were he competed as part of the 4 x 100 m real] team. In August 2001 after competing for Sale Harriers Manchester in a league competition, Allyn collapsed and was later rushed into hospital with renal failure
and endocarditis
. After spending six weeks in hospital, doctors told Allyn that his athletics career was over.
After a spell out of the sport, he got back to full fitness and in August became the 2002 Commonwealth Games
gold medalist in Manchester in the 4x100 m relay. Condon flew out to Munich as part of the Great Britain
Team for the 2002 European Athletics Championships, but after a dispute with the team management over selection returned home before the event had taken place.
, he changed from track and field
in 2006 to take on the challenge of bobsleigh
.
During his first year in the sport he became a first team regular in both the 2 man and 4 man events. His best finish at the FIBT World Championships
was fifth in the four-man event at St. Moritz
in 2007
. Condon's best World Cup finish was tenth in a four-man event at Winterberg
in 2008.
In 2008 during a race in Germany he hurt his back and returned home to the UK. After having his back scanned, surgeons found he had ruptured an artery on his lower spine and this brought an abrupt end to the season ahead.
He returned to the sport in 2009 were the team struggled to find any kind of form on the World cup circuit and had a disappointing World Championships finish.
In 2010 after a season of selection upsets, he was selected to represent Great Britain at the Vancouver Winter Olympic Games. As a bobsledder, Condon finished 17th in the four-man event at the 2010 Winter Olympics
in Vancouver
alongside former track and field team-mate Dan Money
. A 150 km/h crash that put the Great Britain
team on their heads on the bend named 50/50 prevented the 4-man team from achieving a top 8 finish.
Sprint (race)
Sprints are short running events in athletics and track and field. Races over short distances are among the oldest running competitions. The first 13 editions of the Ancient Olympic Games featured only one event—the stadion race, which was a race from one end of the stadium to the other...
and current bobsleigh
Bobsleigh
Bobsleigh or bobsled is a winter sport in which teams of two or four make timed runs down narrow, twisting, banked, iced tracks in a gravity-powered sled that are combined to calculate the final score....
er. At the Vancouver Olympic Games in 2010 he became the second person to have competed for Great Britain in both the summer and winter Olympic games
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
having already competed in the Sydney Olympics in 2000.
Athletics
Condon has been coached by his father Morris Condon since the age of 10 years old. He showed a talent for athletics at an early age when he won two gold medalGold medal
A gold medal is typically the medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture...
s at the European Youth Olympics in Brussels in 1991 at the age of 16 and then was part of the winning 4 x 400 metres relay
4 x 400 metres relay
The 4 x 400 meters relay or long relay is an athletics track event in which teams comprise four runners who each complete 400 meters or one lap. It is traditionally the final event of a track meet. At top class events, the first 500 meters is run in lanes...
team at the European Junior Championships
European Athletics Junior Championships
The European Athletics Junior Championships are the European championships open for those of age. The IAAF defines Junior as athletes who are 19 years of age or under. It is currently organized by the European Athletic Association....
in the same year.
In 1992 he ran first leg in the 4 x 100 metres relay
4 x 100 metres relay
The 4 × 100 metres relay or sprint relay is an athletics track event run in lanes over one lap of the track with four runners completing 100 metres each. The first runners begin in the same stagger as for the individual 400 m race...
team that took gold at the World Junior Championships
IAAF World Junior Championships in Athletics
The IAAF World Junior Championships in Athletics are the world championships for junior aged athletes athletes, organized by the International Association of Athletics Federations. It is held biennially since 1986.-Championships:-Men:-Women:-External links:* at...
in South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
, breaking the European junior record in the process. He became one of the youngest sportsmen ever to be selected to compete for Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
at the World Cup
IAAF World Cup in Athletics
The IAAF Continental Cup is an international athletics competition which comprises track and field events. It is the only world cup contested by teams representing entire continents, rather than just those of individual nations...
in Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
were at the age of 18 he won a bronze medal
Bronze medal
A bronze medal is a medal awarded to the third place finisher of contests such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The practice of awarding bronze third place medals began at the 1904 Olympic Games in St...
, his first as a senior athlete.
He was the 200 metres
200 metres
A 200 metres race is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 m track, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques are needed to successfully run the race. A slightly shorter race, called the stadion and run on a straight track, was the first...
bronze medalist at the 1998 European Athletics Indoor Championships and won 4x100 m relay gold medals at the 1998 European Cup and 1998 IAAF World Cup and 1998 European Athletics Championships.
The following year he won a 4x100 m relay bronze at the 1999 IAAF World Indoor Championships
1999 IAAF World Indoor Championships
The 7th IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics were held in the Green Dome Maebashi stadium in Maebashi, Japan from March 5 to March 7, 1999. It was the first time the Championships were staged outside Europe or North America. Primo Nebiolo, president of the IAAF, characterized the...
and outdoors won the a silver medal in the event at the 1999 World Championships in Athletics
1999 World Championships in Athletics
The 7th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held at the Estadio Olímpico, Seville, Spain, between the August 20 and August 29....
. At that competitionin he also ran first leg in the 4 x 400 m relay team that broke the British indoor record
British records in athletics
British records in athletics are the best performances in athletics events by athletes representing the United Kingdom which are ratified by the Amateur Athletic Association and the British Amateur Athletic Board .-History:...
and won a bronze medal. He still holds the British record and is still ranked 5th on the UK all time 200 m indoor rankings.
In 2000 he was selected for his first Olympic Games
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
in Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
were he competed as part of the 4 x 100 m real] team. In August 2001 after competing for Sale Harriers Manchester in a league competition, Allyn collapsed and was later rushed into hospital with renal failure
Renal failure
Renal failure or kidney failure describes a medical condition in which the kidneys fail to adequately filter toxins and waste products from the blood...
and endocarditis
Endocarditis
Endocarditis is an inflammation of the inner layer of the heart, the endocardium. It usually involves the heart valves . Other structures that may be involved include the interventricular septum, the chordae tendineae, the mural endocardium, or even on intracardiac devices...
. After spending six weeks in hospital, doctors told Allyn that his athletics career was over.
After a spell out of the sport, he got back to full fitness and in August became the 2002 Commonwealth Games
Athletics at the 2002 Commonwealth Games
At the 2002 Commonwealth Games, the athletics events were held at the City of Manchester Stadium from the 26–30 July 2002. The route for the marathon event crossed Manchester city centre and finished in the stadium. The race walk events began alongside the Lowry Centre at Salford Quays...
gold medalist in Manchester in the 4x100 m relay. Condon flew out to Munich as part of the Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
Team for the 2002 European Athletics Championships, but after a dispute with the team management over selection returned home before the event had taken place.
Switch to bobsleigh
After an international athletics career, inspired by the film Cool RunningsCool Runnings
Cool Runnings is a 1993 comedy film directed by Jon Turteltaub. It is loosely based on the true story of the Jamaica national bobsled team's debut in the bobsleigh competition of the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Alberta. It stars Leon Robinson, Doug E. Doug, Malik Yoba, and Rawle D...
, he changed from track and field
Track and field
Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...
in 2006 to take on the challenge of bobsleigh
Bobsleigh
Bobsleigh or bobsled is a winter sport in which teams of two or four make timed runs down narrow, twisting, banked, iced tracks in a gravity-powered sled that are combined to calculate the final score....
.
During his first year in the sport he became a first team regular in both the 2 man and 4 man events. His best finish at the FIBT World Championships
FIBT World Championships
The FIBT World Championships, part of the Fédération Internationale de Bobsleigh et de Tobogganing , have taken place on an annual basis in non-Winter Olympic years since 1930. A two-man event was included in 1931 with a combined championship occurring in 1947...
was fifth in the four-man event at St. Moritz
St. Moritz
St. Moritz is a resort town in the Engadine valley in Switzerland. It is a municipality in the district of Maloja in the Swiss canton of Graubünden...
in 2007
FIBT World Championships 2007
The FIBT World Championships 2007 took place in St. Moritz, Switzerland for the record twenty-first time, doing so previously in 1931 , 1935 , 1937 , 1938 , 1939 , 1947, 1955, 1957, 1959, 1965, 1970, 1974, 1977, 1982, 1987, 1989 , 1990 , 1997 , 1998 , and 2001...
. Condon's best World Cup finish was tenth in a four-man event at Winterberg
Winterberg
Winterberg is a town in the Hochsauerland district of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany and a major winter sport resort of the Wintersport Arena Sauerland.-Geography:...
in 2008.
In 2008 during a race in Germany he hurt his back and returned home to the UK. After having his back scanned, surgeons found he had ruptured an artery on his lower spine and this brought an abrupt end to the season ahead.
He returned to the sport in 2009 were the team struggled to find any kind of form on the World cup circuit and had a disappointing World Championships finish.
In 2010 after a season of selection upsets, he was selected to represent Great Britain at the Vancouver Winter Olympic Games. As a bobsledder, Condon finished 17th in the four-man event at the 2010 Winter Olympics
2010 Winter Olympics
The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially the XXI Olympic Winter Games or the 21st Winter Olympics, were a major international multi-sport event held from February 12–28, 2010, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with some events held in the suburbs of Richmond, West Vancouver and the University...
in Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
alongside former track and field team-mate Dan Money
Dan Money
Dan Money is a British bobsledder who has competed since 2006. At the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, he finished 17th in the four-man event while crashing out in the two-man event whilst in 8th place....
. A 150 km/h crash that put the Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
team on their heads on the bend named 50/50 prevented the 4-man team from achieving a top 8 finish.
Personal bests
| Distance | Time | Location | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60 m (indoor) | 6.60 sec | Australia Australia Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area... |
August 2000 |
| 100m | 10.21 sec | Bedford Bedford Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire, in the East of England. It is a large town and the administrative centre for the wider Borough of Bedford. According to the former Bedfordshire County Council's estimates, the town had a population of 79,190 in mid 2005, with 19,720 in the adjacent town... |
14 August 1999 |
| 200m | 20.63 sec | ? | 1 January 1997 |
| 300m | 33.08 sec | Loughborough Loughborough Loughborough is a town within the Charnwood borough of Leicestershire, England. It is the seat of Charnwood Borough Council and is home to Loughborough University... |
8 August 1999 |
| 200 m (indoor) | 20.53 sec | Birmingham Birmingham Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a... |
8 February 1998 |
| 400 m (indoor) | 46.23 sec | Birmingham Birmingham Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a... |
14 February 1999 |
Competition record
| 1991 | European Youth Olympics | Brussels, Belgium Belgium Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many... |
1st | 400m & 4 x 100m relay |
| 1998 | European Indoor Championships 1998 European Indoor Athletics Championships The 25th European Athletics Indoor Championships were held from Friday, 27 February to Sunday, 1 March 1998 at the Palace of Luis Puig, Valencia, Spain.-Men:-Women:-Medal table:-External links:* - Athletix... |
Valencia, Spain Spain Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula... |
3rd | 200 metres |
| European Championships 1998 European Championships in Athletics The 17th European Athletics Championships were held from 18 August to 23 August 1998 in Budapest, the capital city of Hungary.-Track:1990 |1994 |1998 |2002 |2006 |-Field:1990 |1994 |1998 |2002 |2006 |-Track:1990 |1994 |1998 |2002 |2006 |-Field:... |
Budapest Budapest Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter... , Hungary Hungary Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The... |
1st | 4x100m relay | |
| 1999 | World Indoor Championships 1999 IAAF World Indoor Championships The 7th IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics were held in the Green Dome Maebashi stadium in Maebashi, Japan from March 5 to March 7, 1999. It was the first time the Championships were staged outside Europe or North America. Primo Nebiolo, president of the IAAF, characterized the... |
Maebashi Maebashi, Gunma is the capital city of Gunma Prefecture, Japan.The city was founded on April 1, 1892, by the samurai Makuba Kawai.On December 5, 2004 the town of Ōgo, and the villages of Kasukawa and Miyagi, all from Seta District, were merged into Maebashi.... , Japan Japan Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south... |
3rd | 4x100m relay |