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}} Iwan Gwyn Thomas, MBE (born 5 January 1974) is a Welsh sprinter who represented Great Britain and Northern Ireland at the Olympic Games in the 400 metres, and Wales at the Commonwealth Games. Thomas is a former European and Commonwealth Games champion. Thomas's coach for much of his running career was Mike Smith, formerly coach to British 400 m runners Roger Black, Todd Bennett and Paul Harmsworth also hurdler Kriss Akabusi. Thomas was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 1998. ==Athletics career== His initial athletics breakthrough came at the World Junior Championships in 1992 as part of the British 4x400 metres relay team that finished fifth. Thomas attended Stamford School and West London Institute of Higher Education, where he studied Sports Science and Geography. While still at university, he took part in the 1994 Commonwealth Games 400 m where he reached the semi-finals, representing Wales. From there, he was selected to represent Britain in the relay at the 1995 European Cup and secured his first championship gold medal. At the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Thomas finished 5th in the final and took a silver medal in the 4x400 m event. He also represented Britain in the 2000 Olympics but was not selected for the individual event and despite running the fastest leg for the British team, did not secure a medal. Thomas was a member of the Great Britain 4x400m team at the 1997 World Championships in Athletics in Athens. The team (Iwan Thomas, Roger Black, Jamie Baulch and Mark Richardson) finished second by 0.18 seconds to the United States. However, in 2008, US team member Antonio Pettigrew, who ran the second leg of the final, testified in the court case against trainer Trevor Graham that he had been aided by performance- enhancing substances between 1997 and 2001, including the 1997 World Championships. As the International Amateur Athletics Federation did not, as of 2008, change results retrospectively more than eight years after the event, the GB team was not awarded the gold medal retrospectively, although Pettigrew has returned his medals won in that period.〔(Pettigrew given two-year dope ban ) BBC Sport, 3 June 2008〕〔(Thomas calls for justice after Pettigrew's disgrace ) The Guardian, 5 June 2008〕 On 7 January 2010 it was announced that Great Britain's 1997 World Championship 4x400m relay team were to be awarded the gold medal they were denied by the disqualified USA team.〔(Great Britain's relay heroes will finally be honoured ) BBC Sport, 7 January 2010〕 New medals were minted for the ceremony, as not all of the American quartet returned the originals. Thomas received his gold medal in May 2010 in a presentation by Alun Ffred Jones at Cardiff Bay.〔(Welsh athletes Baulch and Thomas finally hold the gold ). BBC Sport (2010-05-11). Retrieved on 4 June 2010.〕 Thomas' career was hampered by injury including a stress fracture to his ankle in 1999 that required telescopic surgery. He was again injured in 2003 with damage to his Achilles. Further injury in 2004 ruled him out of the 2004 Olympic Games. Thomas was selected in 2006 for the Welsh team for the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia, but was unable to compete due to an injury. Iwan never officially retired from athletics but took the opportunity to do so when offered by Andy Goldstein on 3 July 2012 edition of the Andy Goldstien's Sports Bar on TalkSPORT. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Iwan Thomas」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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