Michael Alan Rimmer (born 3 February 1986, in

Southport Southport is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. It lies on the West Lancashire Coastal Plain, West Lancashire coastal plain and the east coast of the Irish Sea, approximately north of ...

) is an English middle-distance runner. He was born in

. Originally a member of Southport Waterloo AC, he changed clubs to rivals Liverpool Pembroke Sefton, who he still now races with. He attended Christ The King catholic high school and broke numerous records in school mile races held at Victoria park, Southport. Michael was also a former sports scholar at

Liverpool John Moores University Liverpool John Moores University (abbreviated LJMU) is a public university, public research university in the city of Liverpool, England. The university can trace its origins to the Liverpool Mechanics' School of Arts, established in 1823. This ...

Running career

He finished 8th in the 800m final at the

2006 European Athletics Championships The 19th European Athletics Championships were held in Gothenburg, Sweden, between 7 August and 13 August 2006. The competition arena was the Ullevi Stadium and the official motto "Catch the Spirit". Gothenburg also hosted the 1995 World Champions ...

Gothenburg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...

. Finished 2nd in his first European Cup in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

(2007). He is the first male 800 m runner in British history to win national titles at under 15, 17, 20 and as a senior athlete. His personal best is 1:43.89 (lowering his previous mark by over half a second) which he set in Rieti, Italy, in 2010. This places him 6th on the "UK all time list" and is the fastest by any British athlete in over 17 years. As he won the Senior title in 2008, he was selected to represent Team GB at the Beijing Olympics. Rimmer's build-up to the Games was disrupted by food poisoning, which he picked up at the holding camp in

Macau Macau or Macao is a special administrative regions of China, special administrative region of the People's Republic of China (PRC). With a population of about people and a land area of , it is the most List of countries and dependencies by p ...

. The Southport runner comfortably came through his first-ever Olympic race in 1:47.61, despite having lost almost because of his illness. In August 2009, Rimmer competed in the World Championships, held in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. Rimmer looked promising throughout the heats of the 800 m, and after squeezing through his previous round he was well down the field in the semi-final in a time of 1:46.77. In July 2010, he became the first male 800 m runner in history to win five consecutive national senior titles in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

. He won his first major championship medal in the European Championships in Barcelona, a

silver medal A silver medal, in sports and other similar areas involving competition, is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, ...

behind Marcin Lewandowski with a 1:47.17. Throughout his career Rimmer adhered to a superstition of always wearing a t-shirt below his racing vest .

Competition record

References

External links

* * 1986 births Living people English male middle-distance runners British male middle-distance runners Olympic male middle-distance runners Olympic athletes for Great Britain Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games competitors for England Athletes (track and field) at the 2014 Commonwealth Games World Athletics Championships athletes for Great Britain European Athletics Championships medalists British Athletics Championships winners AAA Championships winners Black British sportsmen 21st-century English sportsmen {{England-middledistance-athletics-bio-stub