Peter Elliott (born 9 October 1962) is a former middle-distance runner from the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. During his career, he won the gold medal in the

1500 metres The 1500 metres or 1500-metre run is the foremost middle distance track event in athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Championships in Athletics since 1983. It is equivalent to 1.5 kilomet ...

at the

1990 Commonwealth Games The 1990 Commonwealth Games () were held in Auckland, New Zealand from 24 January – 3 February 1990. It was the 14th Commonwealth Games, and part of New Zealand's 1990 sesquicentennial celebrations. Participants competed in ten sports: at ...

, the silver medal in the 1500 metres at the 1988 Olympic Games, and the silver medal in the

800 metres The 800 metres, or 800 meters (American and British English spelling differences#-re.2C -er, US spelling), is a common track running event. It is the shortest commonly run middle-distance running event. The 800 metres is run over two laps of a ...

at the 1987 World Championships.

Biography

Elliott was brought up in Rawmarsh, near Rotherham, in the then

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire was one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the riding was an administrative county named County of York, West Riding. The Lord Lieutenant of the West Riding of Yorkshire, lieu ...

. He attended Rawmarsh

Comprehensive School A comprehensive school is a secondary school for pupils aged 11–16 or 11–18, that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude, in contrast to a selective school system where admission is restricted on the basis ...

and later worked as a

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. He managed to establish himself as a world class athlete while working full-time. He began his athletic career by running in the Young Athletes League for his local club, Rotherham Harriers, where he variously held the under 15, under 16 and under 19 record for 800m. He also held the UK under-17 record with a time of 1 minute 50.7 seconds, which stood for nearly 10 years. He excelled as a schoolboy athlete, winning four English Schools titles, twice at 800 metres and twice over the country. In August 1982, he set a 4 × 800 metres relay. World Record of 7 minutes 3.89 seconds with fellow British athletes

Sebastian Coe Sebastian Newbold Coe, Baron Coe, (born 29 September 1956), often referred to as Seb Coe, is a British sports administrator, former politician and retired track and field athlete. As a middle-distance runner, Coe won four Olympic medals, incl ...

Steve Cram Stephen Cram, (born 14 October 1960) is a British retired track and field athlete. Along with fellow Britons Sebastian Coe and Steve Ovett, he was one of the world's dominant middle-distance runners during the 1980s. Nicknamed "The Jarrow Arro ...

and Garry Cook. At the 1983 World Championships held in

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, he finished 4th in the 800m final. Elliott was not selected for the 1500m at the

1984 Olympic Games The 1984 Olympics may refer to: *The 1984 Winter Olympics, which were held in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia *The 1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and commonly known as Los Angeles 1984) were an i ...

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, losing out to the eventual gold and silver medallists, Sebastian Coe and Steve Cram, and the then world record holder,

Steve Ovett Stephen Michael James Ovett, (; born 9 October 1955) is a retired British track athlete. A middle-distance runner, he was the gold medalist in the 800 metres at the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow. Ovett set five world records for 1500 metre ...

. At the time, it was a very controversial decision. After Ovett and Cram had secured their places, the third place was either Coe's or Elliott's. Although Elliott defeated Coe at the AAA's Championships, the selectors opted for Coe who was the reigning Olympic champion having won the event at the Moscow Olympics in 1980. Elliott was selected for the 800m and qualified for the semi-finals, but had to withdraw due to an injury. Elliott won a bronze medal in the 800m at the

1986 Commonwealth Games The 1986 Commonwealth Games were held in Edinburgh, Scotland, between 24 July and 2 August 1986. This was the second Commonwealth Games to be held in Edinburgh. Thirty two of the eligible fifty nine countries (largely African, Asian and Caribbe ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

, behind Steve Cram and

Tom McKean Thomas McKean (born 27 October 1963) is a Scottish former middle-distance runner representing Great Britain and Scotland internationally. He was European champion over the 800 metres in 1990, and a world (1993) and European (1990) indoor champ ...

. He then won a silver medal in the event at the 1987 World Championships in

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. The following year, he won the silver medal in the 1500m at the Olympic Games in

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

. He also finished fourth in the Olympic 800m final. In January 1990, he became the Commonwealth champion over 1500m in

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

. Later in the year, he ran 1:42.97 over 800m in

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(ranking him No. 1 in the world for 1990, and making him the third fastest Briton of all time over the distance). As of August 2024, he is the fourth fastest Briton of all time, after Coe, Ben Pattison and Cram. This made him the favourite to win both middle distance gold medals at the 1990 European Championships in

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. However, due to injury problems he only entered for the 1500m and was tripped in the semi-final. After an appeal by the British team he was reinstated (against his own wishes and those of some other athletes), and went on to finish fourth in the final. A year later, he defeated the European champion Jens-Peter Herold in the 1500m race at the European Cup in Frankfurt. He also won the Fifth Avenue Mile in 1987, 1989 and 1990, the latter in 3:47.83 min. Elliott was three times British 800 metres champion after winning the British

AAA Championships The AAA Championships was an annual track and field competition organised by the Amateur Athletic Association of England. It was the foremost domestic athletics event in the United Kingdom during its lifetime, despite the existence of the offi ...

title at the 1982 AAA Championships and the 1987 AAA Championships and being the best placed British athlete in 1983. He was also the British 1500 metres champion, winning the AAA title in 1984 and 1988. He set a British indoor mile record of 3:52.02 in 1990, which stood until bettered by Josh Kerr in 2022. After retiring from competition running in 1992, Elliott became a coach and race organiser. He joined

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...

-based sports marketing agency Nova International, where he was Director of Running. In 2004 he became the Athlete Services Manager for Yorkshire at the English Institute of Sport in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

Personal bests

References

UK Athletics Hall of Fame

UKA Young Athletes LeaguePower of 10 Profile: Peter Elliott

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Elliott, Peter 1962 births Living people Sportspeople from Rawmarsh English male middle-distance runners British male middle-distance runners Olympic athletes for Great Britain Olympic silver medallists for Great Britain Athletes (track and field) at the 1984 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1988 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games gold medallists for England Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for England Athletes (track and field) at the 1986 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1990 Commonwealth Games World Athletics Championships athletes for Great Britain World Athletics Championships medalists Athletes from Yorkshire Medalists at the 1988 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists in athletics (track and field) Medallists at the 1986 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 1990 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games gold medallists in athletics Commonwealth Games bronze medallists in athletics