Dai Greene
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David "Dai" Greene (born 11 April 1986) is a British
hurdler Hurdling is the act of jumping over an obstacle at a high speed or in a sprint. In the early 19th century, hurdlers ran at and jumped over each hurdle (sometimes known as 'burgles'), landing on both feet and checking their forward motion. Today, ...
who specialises in the
400 metres hurdles The 400 metres hurdles is a track and field hurdling event. The event has been on the Olympic athletics programme since 1900 for men and since 1984 for women. On a standard outdoor track, 400 metres is the length of the inside lane, once ...
, competing internationally for both
Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...
and
Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...
. In a 'golden' sixteen-month period between 2010 and 2011, Greene dominated the event at international level, winning the World, European, Diamond League and Commonwealth titles in quick succession, in addition to winning the event as part of both the European Team Championships and the IAAF Continental Cup. Hindered by a knee injury, Greene finished in 4th at the 2012 Summer Olympics, and the same injury prevented him from being competitive at global level thereafter. He is the second fastest British man over the 400 m hurdles, behind the British record holder,
Kriss Akabusi Kezie Uchechukwu Duru Akabusi , MBE (born 28 November 1958), known as Kriss Akabusi, is a British former sprint and hurdling track and field athlete. His first international successes were with the British 4×400 metres relay team, winning a ...
.


Early life

Born in
Llanelli Llanelli (" St Elli's Parish"; ) is a market town and the largest community in Carmarthenshire and the preserved county of Dyfed, Wales. It is located on the Loughor estuary north-west of Swansea and south-east of the county town, Carmarth ...
near
Felinfoel Felinfoel (pronounced ) is a small village and electoral ward on the River Lliedi on the northern border of Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, West Wales, with a population of about 2,000. The Felinfoel Brewery, home of Double Dragon Ale, is the oldest ...
, Greene showed an aptitude for sport while attending Pen-y-gaer primary school. Inspired to follow his hero Ryan Giggs, he began practising football skills with his left foot. When aged 13, while attending Coedcae School, he joined the youth team set-up at Swansea City, playing left wing, and once scored a penalty against a
Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
youth side. Turning down a contract to turn professional as a footballer aged 16, he continued his studies while still playing youth football for Manchester City youth side . After contracting Osgood-Schlatter disease during a growth spurt, he decided to give up football in his late teens for athletics, and he still runs to this day for Swansea Harriers Athletics Club. Aged 17, Greene was diagnosed with
epilepsy Epilepsy is a group of non-communicable neurological disorders characterized by recurrent epileptic seizures. Epileptic seizures can vary from brief and nearly undetectable periods to long periods of vigorous shaking due to abnormal electrica ...
, and continues to manage the condition today by avoiding late nights and alcohol, the main diagnosed triggers of his seizures. Greene is an ambassador for the charit
Young Epilepsy


Athletics career


Junior and age-group

Moving to
Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...
to be coached by Benke Blomqvist, Greene had his first success on the junior athletics circuit in 2005. He won the silver medal at the
2005 European Athletics Junior Championships The 2005 European Athletics Junior Championships was the 18th edition of the biennial athletics competition for European under-20 athletes, which was held in Kaunas, Lithuania on 21–24 July. Medal summary Men Women Medal table Referenc ...
, finishing with a personal best time of 51.14 seconds. The following year he competed in his first senior tournament, the 2006 European Athletics Championships, but he failed to progress beyond the heats with a run of 50.66 seconds.Biography Greene, David
IAAF; Retrieved 9 June 2009
His age-group success continued, however, as he won the gold medal at the 2007
European Athletics U23 Championships The European Athletics U23 Championships is a biennial athletics competition for European athletes under the age of 23, which is organized by the European Athletic Association. The oldest of the 'age-group' track and field events held by Europe ...
with a new best of 49.58 seconds. He beat Frenchman Fadil Bellaabouss by a narrow margin to mark an impressive return, following an ankle injury which had ruled him out for six weeks of the season. After his coach Blomqvist decided to return to Sweden for family reasons, from 2009 Greene moved to the
University of Bath (Virgil, Georgics II) , mottoeng = Learn the culture proper to each after its kind , established = 1886 (Merchant Venturers Technical College) 1960 (Bristol College of Science and Technology) 1966 (Bath University of Technology) 1971 (univ ...
, to allow him to train under coach
Malcolm Arnold Sir Malcolm Henry Arnold (21 October 1921 – 23 September 2006) was an English composer. His works feature music in many genres, including a cycle of nine symphonies, numerous concertos, concert works, chamber music, choral music and music ...
, supported by the
Wells Sports Foundation Barrie John Wells is an English financial services entrepreneur and businessperson, who has set up and sold two major insurance-related businesses in his career. In 2008, so inspired by the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, Wells donated £2 milli ...
. He was later joined by fellow Welsh 400m hurdler Rhys Williams, who became his training partner.


Seniors career

The 2009 outdoor season saw Greene making his first impact on the senior circuit. In June he set a meet record and a new personal best of 48.62 seconds to win the 400 m hurdles at the Josef Odlozil Memorial in Prague. This was a significant improvement from his 2008 best of 49.58 seconds and made him top of the European rankings for the first time. Competing for
Team GB Team GB is the brand name used since 1999 by the British Olympic Association (BOA) for their Great Britain at the Olympics, British Olympic team. The brand was developed after Great Britain at the 1996 Summer Olympics, the nation's poor perfor ...
at the 2009 World Championships, Greene won his heat with a strong first round performance of 48.76 seconds. He followed this with a new personal best in the semi-finals, finishing in 48.27 seconds to take second place behind
Bershawn Jackson Bershawn D. Jackson (born May 8, 1983) is an American athlete, who mainly competes in the 400 m hurdles, but also is a 400 m runner. At the 2008 Summer Olympics, Bershawn "Batman" Jackson won a bronze medal in the 400 m hurdles ...
. He finished 7th in the final of the men's 400 m hurdles, and received a silver medal for the 4 × 400 m relay, despite only running in the semi-final, being replaced in the final by Michael Bingham.


2010 and 2011: Senior success

On 31 July 2010, he won the Gold Medal in the 400m hurdles at the
European Athletics Championships The European Athletics Championships is a biennial (from 2010) athletics event organised by the European Athletics Association and is recognised as the elite continental outdoor athletics championships for Europe. Editions First held, for men ...
in Barcelona, with fellow Welshman Rhys Williams getting the
silver Silver is a chemical element with the symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical ...
. On 10 October 2010, Greene won the gold medal in the
Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...
in
Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders ...
. On 1 September 2011, at the World Athletics Championships in Daegu,
South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...
, Greene won the gold medal, overtaking a strong field in the final straight. In 2011 Greene was named an Ambassador for the Jaguar Academy of Sport.


2012 to present

At the Diamond League event in Paris on 6 July 2012, Greene ran a personal best of 47.84 secs in finishing second to Javier Culson to move even closer to the British record in the 400m hurdles. Greene was selected to captain the Great Britain athletics team for the
2012 London Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...
, as one of the favourites for a medal. In the first round of the
400 m hurdles The 400 metres hurdles is a track and field hurdling event. The event has been on the Olympic athletics programme since 1900 for men and since 1984 for women. On a standard outdoor track, 400 metres is the length of the inside lane, once a ...
Greene won his heat in 48.98s, the fastest time of round. In the semi-finals Greene ran sluggishly, finishing fourth and only qualifying for the final as a fastest loser. In the final Greene finished fourth behind 2004 Olympic champion Félix Sánchez, surprise American Michael Tinsley and Javier Culson, running slower than he had in the semi-final. Post-race Greene admitted huge disappointment, and blamed disruption to his training caused by a knee injury in the winter. Greene also ran in the final of the
4 × 400 metres relay The 4 × 400 metres relay or long relay is an athletics track event in which teams consist of four runners who each complete 400 metres or one lap. It is traditionally the final event of a track meet. At top class events, th ...
, as the British team finished fourth, just 0.13 seconds off a medal. Greene's injury problems continued throughout 2013 and 2014, interrupting his training regime and preventing him from successfully defending his 2011 World crown in
Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...
where Greene was eliminated in the semi-final. An attempt to retain his Commonwealth title also ended in the semi-finals, while running nearly two seconds outside his personal best. Greene resultantly withdrew himself from consideration for the
2014 European Athletics Championships The 2014 European Athletics Championships was held in Zürich, Switzerland, between 12 and 17 August 2014. It was the first time that Switzerland had hosted the European Athletics Championships since 1954. Great Britain headed the medal table, wi ...
, because of lack of form and a failure to make the agreed qualification time. In light of further injury issues, which resulted in him missing the 2016 Summer Olympics in
Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
, in November 2016 Greene was stripped of his UK National Lottery funding by
UK Athletics UK Athletics (UKA) is the governing body for the sport of athletics in the United Kingdom. It is responsible for overseeing the governance of athletics events in the UK as well as athletes, their development, and athletics officials. The orga ...
, and hence omitted from UKA's world-class performance programme from 2017 onwards. Despite this further setback, Greene continued to train through 2017. Free of injury for the first time in several years, Greene began returning to form through 2018, culminating in winning the British championships in July of that year, sealing qualification for both the
2018 European Athletics Championships The 2018 European Athletics Championships were held in Berlin, Germany, from 6 to 12 August 2018. The championships were part of the first European Championships with other events happening in the United Kingdom. For the second Championships in ...
, and the inaugural
Athletics World Cup The Athletics World Cup was a team-based international athletics competition held in 2018. It featured eight national teams based on world rankings, with each team entering one athlete per event, and points gained on the basis of finishing posit ...
.


Personal bests


Awards

*2010 – Brin Isaac sportsperson of the year *2011 – Greene received the 'Jump off the Sofa Moment' Award at the Jaguar Academy of Sport Annual Awards for his victory at the World Athletics Championships in Daegu.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Greene, Dai 1986 births Living people Sportspeople from Llanelli Welsh male hurdlers British male hurdlers Olympic male hurdlers Olympic athletes of Great Britain Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Wales Commonwealth Games gold medallists in athletics Athletes (track and field) at the 2010 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2014 Commonwealth Games World Athletics Championships athletes for Great Britain World Athletics Championships winners World Athletics Championships medalists IAAF Continental Cup winners European Athletics Championships winners European Athletics Championships medalists British Athletics Championships winners Diamond League winners Alumni of the University of Bath Team Bath track and field athletes People with epilepsy Commonwealth Games competitors for Wales Swansea Harriers Athletics Club