Iwan Thomas with some great stories and sobering thoughts

Track & Ball with Ellen White and Richard Whitehead

Iwan Thomas is one of the characters of athletics....with his distinct hair as flamboyant 400m runner and now as a TV and stadium presenter.

There is so much to Iwan Thomas and he freely talks about all aspects of his life - from his days competing to his post-athletics life.

He talks about how he lives his life, surrounding himself with good friends and good people.

He won silver at the World Athletics Championships in the 4x400m relay but this was eventually upgraded to gold because two of the American team admitted to take performance enhancing drugs.

Iwan feels he's never been properly recognised with the team. He was given a form of medal in a car park in Birmingham. It makes him sad that they've never had their moment in the limelight.

There are lots of great stories; from an altercation in a Southampton nightclub to drinking free beers to help give a sample for a drugs test.

Iwan had many battles with injury during his career, missing the Athens Olympics and Melbourne Commonwealth Games. He tells us how he struggled mentally to cope with with his physical injuries and shut himself away suffering depression. He went on to make a video with Prince Harry to help others with mental health issues.

He also had a traumatic time soon after his little boy Teddy was born. Within hours of being born little Teddy was taken into intensive care with Strep B. For ten days it was incredibly serious. Iwan now does all he can to raise awareness of the condition.

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