Nicholas Nieland (born 31 January 1972 in

Truro Truro (; ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in Cornwall, England; it is the southernmost city in the United Kingdom, just under west-south-west of Charing Cross in London. It is Cornwall's county town, s ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

) is a British

javelin throw The javelin throw is a track and field event where the javelin, a spear about in length, is thrown as far as possible. The javelin thrower gains momentum by running within a predetermined area. Javelin throwing is an event of both the men's de ...

er. He was the British number three for many years. When his long-time domestic rival Steven Backley retired, Nieland rose to prominence to achieve a gold medal for

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

at the

2006 Commonwealth Games The 2006 Commonwealth Games, officially the XVIII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Melbourne 2006, were an International sport, international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth held in Melbourne ...

becoming number one in the UK. His personal best is 85.09m set in 2000 and his best throw in 2006 is 84.70m. He won 4 national titles from 1996 to 2007, setting personal bests in the Olympic Trials in 1996 and 2000. Nieland is a graduate of

Bristol University The University of Bristol is a public research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Merchant Venturers' school founded in 1595 and University College, Bristol, which had ...

with a BSc Chemistry 1994, and PhD Chemistry 1999. Nick made his achievements in athletics from 2000 to 2007 while working as an equity analyst for a top investment bank in the City of London. After retirement he went on to become a strategic analyst for pharmaceutical firm

Novartis Novartis AG is a Swiss multinational corporation, multinational pharmaceutical company, pharmaceutical corporation based in Basel, Switzerland. Novartis is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world and was the eighth largest by re ...

, later joining the pharmaceutical research team of

Citigroup Citigroup Inc. or Citi (Style (visual arts), stylized as citi) is an American multinational investment banking, investment bank and financial services company based in New York City. The company was formed in 1998 by the merger of Citicorp, t ...

Achievements

Seasonal bests by year

*1995 - 76.30 *1996 - 83.06 *1997 - 78.76 *1998 - 78.68 *1999 - 83.68 *2000 - 85.09 *2001 - 82.93 *2002 - 80.05 *2003 - 82.97 *2004 - 79.06 *2005 - 79.56 *2006 - 84.70 *2007 - 79.04

References

* Living people 1972 births Sportspeople from Truro English male javelin throwers British male javelin throwers Olympic male javelin throwers Olympic athletes for Great Britain Athletes (track and field) at the 1996 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2000 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games gold medallists for England Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for England Commonwealth Games gold medallists in athletics Commonwealth Games bronze medallists in athletics Athletes (track and field) at the 2002 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2006 Commonwealth Games British Athletics Championships winners AAA Championships winners People educated at St Edmund's College, Ware Alumni of the University of Bristol World Athletics Championships athletes for Great Britain Medallists at the 2002 Commonwealth Games {{England-javelinthrow-athletics-bio-stub