2024 Hall of Fame inductees

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2024 Inductees

*Note: no Hall of Fame took place in 2023

• Charles Bennett
• Lorna Boothe
• Robbie Grabarz
• Stan Greenberg
• Nicola Sanders
• Jenny Meadows and Trevor Painter
• Richard Whitehead

Charles Bennett

The very first Briton to win an Olympic gold in athletics, in Paris in 1900, and winner of five AAA titles.

When we think of modern-day British Athletics Olympic Champions, some truly legendary names spring to mind. Rand, Peters, Ovett, Coe, Sanderson, Christie, Gunnell, Edwards, Holmes and Ohoruogu. More recently our minds turn to Ennis-Hill, Rutherford and Farah on Super Saturday and of course Keely's magnificent title just a couple of months ago. But little is ever spoken about our first athletics Olympic Champion. A man whose achievements lay forgotten until earlier this century when his grandson found his abandoned grave and once again shone a rightful light on his talent and place in British sporting history.

Our inaugural athletics gold medal happened to come in the Games’ iconic blue riband event, the 1,500m, and was secured in memorable style in France 124 years ago by a mild mannered, modest train driver from Shapwick in Dorset. Charles Bennett was a fine all-around athlete, winning AAA titles over 1 mile, 4 miles and Cross Country in the years leading up to the Games.

His moment of magic came on 15th July 1900 in the French capital. Travelling to the second Games of the Modern Olympiad, Americans John Cregan and Alex Grant were among the favourites for the 1,500m gold, however they both withdrew because the race was held on a Sunday. Going into the final, the existing World Record was held by Frenchman Albin Lemisiaux (the Athens bronze medallist from four years earlier.) His time of 4.10.4 seemed within reach with the right tactics and during the final Bennett put himself in the right position to strike at the right time. Bennett (known fondly as the "Shapwick Express") ran the last lap in 70.2, beating Frenchman Henri Deloge by 0.8 seconds. (Deloge was a quality athlete who went on to finish 4th in the 800m final a day later.) Bennett had smashed the World Record, lowering it to 4.06.2. His mark was to stand for four years until his successor as champion James Lightbody ran 4.05.4 in St Louis at the third edition of the modern Games.

Not content with his first moment of history, Bennett lined up the next day for the quickly discontinued 4,000m Steeplechase. In a British 1-2-3, he was closing fast down the home straight and finished a yard and a half behind compatriot John Rimmer who took gold by 0.2 seconds. Exactly a week after his 1,500m gold Bennett secured his third medal and second title of the Games in the now discontinued men's 5,000m Team Race. Great Britain beat the French into second with Bennett pulling away from compatriot Rimmer on the last lap to finish first by 25 yards.

His achievements and contribution to the Sport will never be forgotten.

Lorna Boothe

A two-time Olympian, and a two-time Commonwealth Games medallist with a lifetime of service to athletics.

Lorna Boothe is a proud member of Harlow AC and, for more than 50 years, she has been a great ambassador for the sport, for her club and for her country. Her first international appearance came at the European Cup semi-finals in Bulgaria in 1975 in which she finished 3rd in the 100m Hurdles.

A year later Boothe was on the biggest stage of all in Montreal, making it to the Olympic semi-finals after excellent qualification through the heats. In fact, Canada was to prove the scene of her greatest moment as an athlete two years later. All eyes were on the Commonwealth Games in Edmonton in August 1978. A PB in the heats showed Boothe was in shape and in the mood come the final. And what a final. Boothe stormed to victory winning by a tenth of a second and ducking under 13 seconds for the first time in her career.

More international appearances followed at the European Cup in 1979 and then a year later Boothe earned the right to call herself a two-time Olympian, making it onto the British team for Moscow in 1980. But there was something about the Commonwealth Games that brought out the best in Boothe and by the time Brisbane 1982 rolled around, she was ready to mount a strong defence of her title. Winning her heat in a wind legal PB of 13.07 she was the fastest qualifier for the final where once again it was a duel with Shirely Strong. This time the soon to be Olympic silver medallist came out on top, reversing the Edmonton 1-2. Strong took the title in 12.78 with Boothe 12 hundredth's behind with silver in 12.90.

As her career as an athlete came to a close, her career as a coach and a team manager was only just beginning. Boothe went on to become British team manager for nine years and acted as senior manager for the iconic Sydney Olympics in 2000. As well as helping to provide a pathway and guidance for the next generation of British Athletes, Lorna helped set up the highly successful IAAF Academy. Having enjoyed her finest moments as an athlete at the Commonwealth Games, it was almost inevitable her coaching skills would draw her back to the same environment and Lorna was delighted to take on the role of speed events coach for the Glasgow 2014 and Gold Coast 2018 Games.

And in 2019 for her lifetime of dedication to athletics, Boothe was awarded an MBE for services to Sports Coaching and Administration. Lorna Boothe. A two-time Olympian. A two-time Commonwealth medallist. A lifetime of service to Athletics. A worthy addition to the England Athletics Hall of Fame.

Robbie Grabarz

An Olympic, World and European high jump medallist of the very highest global quality.

At his best, Robbie Grabarz was an Olympic, World and European medallist of the very highest global quality. Brimming with personality and energy, you couldn't keep your eyes off his performances when he was on the infield.

Without doubt the most significant year of his career was to be centred around the iconic London Olympics. Grabarz warmed up for that unforgettable outdoor season with a massive 2.34 indoor mark in the January followed by an equal 6th place finish at the World Indoors in Istanbul with 2.31. An outdoor PB of 2.33 followed in May in Rome before a mighty 2.36 lifetime best in New York the following month. It all looked very positive for the European Champs in Helsinki, at which he captured gold with a 2nd time clearance at 2.33.

In London, gold was not meant to be, but a first time clearance at 2.29 was good enough to initially earn a share of bronze, which was then rightfully upgraded to silver following a disqualification. It's an easily forgettable fact that just 16 days after becoming an Olympic medallist, Robbie soared to 2.37 in Lausanne, equalling Steve Smith’s outdoor British record from 1992 and just a cm behind the indoor mark of 2.38, also held by fellow Olympic Medallist Steve Smith. In all he jumped 2.30 or higher in 11 competitions that year, finishing 2012 as European Champion, Olympic medallist and equal 3rd on the World List.

Two 6th place finishes were to follow at the World Outdoor Championships in 2013 and 2017, yet more major championship medals were to come his way in 2016. A first-time clearance of 2.33 at the brilliant edition of the World Indoors in Portland (USA,) saw him secure another global silver. He then headed to the Europeans in Amsterdam with high hopes of another continental medal where he secured a well-deserved silver behind the emerging force that was Gianmarco Tamberi.

In 2016, Grabarz headed to Rio believing a second successive Olympic medal was possible. He came ever so close, finishing 4th on countback behind Ukraine's Bogdan Bondarenko. Robbie's final official international leap was to come at the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast in April 2018, bringing down the curtain on 13 years of fabulous international duty.

With a personality and passion like his, that was never going to be his last contribution to British Athletics, and it's been great to see him passing on the benefit of all his success and wisdom to the next generation of jumpers such as Morgan Lake.

A World class athlete and a passionate, dedicated coach, Robbie Grabarz is a worthy inductee to the England Athletics Hall of Fame.

Stan Greenberg

The man at the helm of the BBC's commentator statistics for 26 years working on Olympic Games and 13 Commonwealth Games.

There can surely be no journalist, broadcaster or statistician alive who has witnessed as many magical athletics moments as the legendary Stan Greenberg. It is estimated he has watched athletics in more than 30 countries witnessing a minimum of 370 World Records over a 70+ year relationship with the sport. Quite some numbers indeed!

Greenberg was the man at the helm of the BBC's commentator statistics for 26 years and the man answerable to none other than David Coleman, giving Information both live on air and in the lead up to the biggest nights the sport has ever known. A phone call from Norris McWhirter in 1968 led to Greenberg "helping out," on a couple of British Cross Country meets and thus his BBC relationship was born.

He remained the number one statistician until 1995 when the now equally well-regarded Mark Butler took over after serving an invaluable apprenticeship under Greenberg's guidance. Greenberg is also credited as the man who invented the concept of the "commentator's cards," where the commentator had a base of information on one piece of card/paper which formed the backbone of his or her notes and research.

As well as honing the way statistics were used by journalists on and off air, Greenberg's knowledge was also put to good use on selection committees. A letter from Britain's governing body in March 1969 invited him to act as Advisory Statistician to the newly formed Team Selection Committee. He held the role expertly giving vital information for the panel for almost 30 years until the highly respected Ian Hodge took over the mantle.

It is often said that throughout the late 60's, 70's, 80's and early 90's no one would have had a better idea of what was happening in a stadium than Greenberg. Stan developed a skill for written statistics as well as on-air information and was a founding member of the NUTS, for many years working alongside the hugely knowledgeable pair of Peter Matthews and Mel Watman.

Stan has been honoured before, receiving The Ron Pickering Memorial Award for "Services to Athletics," in 2016, but it feels as if now is the right time to honour a man whose knowledge, passion and expertise has graced our Sport for more than seven decades. Nine Olympic Games, 13 Commonwealth Games, 13 World Athletics Championships. 13 World Indoor Championships and a minimum of 64 AAA/UK Champs.

A Statistical World Record which will surely never be beaten? Stan Greenberg is a worthy addition to the England Athletics Hall of Fame.

Nicola Sanders

One of the finest single lap runners Great Britain has produced, winner of six global 4x400m relay medals.

Nicola Sanders is one of the finest single lap runners Great Britain has ever produced. The Windsor Slough and Eton athlete began her international career as a 400m hurdler with European Junior bronze in 1999 in Riga, just a month after finishing 4th in the Worlds.

In 2005, she competed as part of British Team for both the 400m hurdles and the relay at the Helsinki World Championships. After disqualification in the semis of the hurdles, Sanders lined up as part of a brilliant 4x4 quartet with Lee McConnell, Donna Frazer and Christine Ohuruogu. The four women made a great team and with Ohuruogu out-dipping Poland's Anna Jesien on the line, they collected a well deserved bronze.

Amazingly for Sanders, it was to be the first of four successive World Outdoor Championship 4x4 relay bronze medals, in which she switched to anchor legs for Osaka 07 and Berlin 09 and ran the second leg for Daegu 2011. The following spring, Sanders won the National indoor 400m title in a PB 50.72 in February 2006, a month before coming within a whisker of a Commonwealth medal in the hurdles. Another PB, this time 55.32, for 4th in Melbourne. In Birmingham the following March, Sanders stormed to the European Indoor title in 50.02, a British and Commonwealth Record, which remains the National Record to this day and still ranks her 7th on the all time lists indoors. At the Osaka 2007 World Championships, Sanders strolled through the heats in 51.45 and produced a majestic race of 49.77 in the semis. In a memorable final it was of course a brilliant 1-2 for Christine Ohuruogu and Nicola Sanders, with Ohuruogu taking the title in 49.61 and Saunders running a lifetime best of 49.65 for the silver. It was only her eighth official race over the iconic distance and still ranks her 5th on the British all-time list today.

The second successive 4x4 bronze gave Saunders a brace of medals from Japan and huge hopes going into Olympic year the following summer. In Beijing, Sanders was 4th in her semifinal, narrowly missing the final. In the relay final she bounced back from that disappointment running the quickest British leg, a magnificent 49.54. At the time she thought she had anchored Great Britain across the finish line in 5th, however a decade later at the Anniversary Games (following the disqualification of the teams who had finished 2nd and 4th) Nicola at last rightfully received her Olympic bronze medal.

In 2013, Nicola retired as an athlete having been a European Indoor Champion, an individual world silver medallist and a six-time global 4x4 relay medallist.

Jenny Meadows and Trevor Painter

A great athletics team for more than two decades – first as athlete and coach and now as joint guardians of some of the best British talent the sport has ever seen.

Jenny Meadows and Trevor Painter have made a great athletics team for more than two decades; first as athlete and coach and now as joint guardians of some of the best British talent the sport has ever seen.

Of course, the wider public may struggle to see past the glitz and rightful glamour of them guiding Keely Hodgkinson to the most watched British gold of the Paris Olympic Games, but everyone and anyone who has known them from within athletics circles is well aware that their commitment to the sport, each other and their athletes has run deep for decades.

Jenny's career was a stellar one – indoors and out – and there surely would have been even more medals had she been at her peak in a different era. Nonetheless, a great international career which should be looked back on with real pride for both of them. Starting with a run to the Semi-finals of the 400m and 4x400m gold at the World Juniors in 2000, Meadows represented her country in the 400, 800 and 4x400m relay across a total of 16 years, which in itself demonstrates remarkable longevity. The nine-time National Champion had fantastic raw speed over 400m, but her greatest success came over the two lap event and her five consecutive years running sub 2 minutes between 2007 and 2011 resulted in her best major championship medal haul.

After making the semis at the Osaka World Championships in 2007 and at the Olympics in 2008, Meadows reached another level in 2009. Amazingly, she raced 23 times over 800m across the season, producing the performance of her life in the World Final in Berlin, clocking a massive PB of 1.57.93 for a richly-deserved bronze . Having run the heats of the 4x400m relay, she was also awarded a second bronze in Germany. 2010 highlighted her prowess indoors as well as outdoors, with a silver at the World Indoors in Doha and then silver outdoors at the Europeans in Barcelona later that year. She did taste individual gold over 800m at the Paris European Indoors in 2011 with a magnificent run in the final.

When Meadows eventually retired, she famously said to Trevor "wow, we won't know what to do with our Saturday mornings." However, little did they know at the time how quickly their combined experience and coaching expertise would be in huge demand.

When a teenage Hodgkinson approached them for some guidance five years ago, Trevor was operating a largely solo coaching set up, but once Meadows started assisting with Hodgkinson, others followed and all of a sudden it was a full-time job for both of them, with daughter Arabella also involved in any of the trips.

Between them, Painter and Meadows oversee the training of 25 athletes, nine of whom are full time and 60% of whom are internationals. It's the combination of warmth, total dedication and intricate understanding of an athlete's mindset which makes it such a powerful team.

Hodgkinson may be a once in a generation athlete, yet she is far from the only one to shine under the Painter/Meadows umbrella. Georgia Bell's bronze and National Record behind Faith Kipyegon in the women's 1,500m in Paris was a remarkable run, (she's 11th on the all-time list) whilst Lewis Davey's talent has brought World relay medals and Ireland's Sarah Healy has broken numerous National Records under their tutelage.

With Jenny and Trevor their genuine care and dedication goes way beyond the confines of a job. For them - as well as those they are coaching - it's a way of life and one which shows no signs of stopping anytime soon. This husband and wife combination is an extraordinary team and for that reason they thoroughly deserve their place in the England Athletics Hall of Fame.

Richard Whitehead

Nicknamed ‘Lion Heart’, this hugely charismatic runner is one of Britain’s most successful Paralympic athlete.

Richard Whitehead's nickname is “Lion Heart”, a reference which perfectly summarises the character of a man who over the course of his career has grown to become one of the most loved British athletes our sport has ever known. The story of the hugely charismatic Marathon runner who changed event in order to become a Paralympic sprinter (when his favoured distance was excluded from the Games,) is the stuff of British Athletics folklore.

Whitehead's talent shone within the sport from as early as 2009 when he started producing excellent Marathon times, but he first rose to wider prominence in Britain when he won the Word IPC 200m title in Christchurch in 2011. London 2012 was a truly extraordinary Paralympic Games and no race highlights this better than Whitehead's 200m. With half an hour to go before the start of the opening session the stadium was packed, unheard of for a morning session, and with Richard Whitehead's 200m among the first finals in the Stadium on the morning of September 1st. He roared to gold in a new World Record of 24.38, winning by over a second from the world-class American Shaquille Vance. Richard was a Paralympic Champion and his status among the British public was secured.

Never a man to rest on his laurels, the following summer in unseasonably hot weather in Lyon he successfully defended his world title. A phenomenal performance and one of the finest of his long career. Another world title defence – this time in Doha October 2015 – meant he arrived in Rio as overwhelming favourite to successfully defend his 200m title. Not only did he take gold again over 200m but this time ducking under 24 seconds with a 23.07 in the heats and gold in the final with 23.39. As emphatic a title defence as you could possibly wish to see.

The London 2017 World Championships was a great trip down memory lane for Whitehead. World 200m gold number four, but inevitably the gold rush had to come to an end, even for "Lion Heart”. silver at the 2019 Worlds in Doha revealed the scale of the task facing him if he carried on to Tokyo in 2021 ... which he did of course. He was on the podium in the 200m in Tokyo but silver this time on the biggest stage of all.

He is one of the most instantly recognisable athletes of the modern era and unsurprisingly remains in remarkably good shape, running 2.50 at the Tokyo Marathon in March and 2.42 in London in April. Richard Whitehead. A man with a colossal appetite for mileage and life. A worthy addition to the England Athletics Hall of Fame.