 Steffensen (second from the left) after winning the bronze medal at the 2009 World Championships 4 x 400 m | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | 30 August 1982 |
| Height | 180 cm (5 ft 11 in) |
| Weight | 71 kg (157 lb) |
| Sport | |
| Country |  Australia |
| Sport | Athletics |
| Event | 4 × 400m Relay |
Medal record | |
John William Steffensen (born 30 August 1982) is an Australian former track and field athlete, who specialised in 200 and 400 metres. He won silver at the 2004 Olympics in Athens. His personal bests were 20.79 and 44.73.
Born in Perth, Western Australia, to South African immigrant parents, Steffensen competed in the 2004 Olympics, and was a part of the Australian team that won the silver medal in the 4 × 400 metres relay.
Steffensen won the gold medal in the 400 m at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, with a time of 44.73, setting a new personal best. This has often been referred to as the greatest race of all time. [1] He won a second gold medal as the first runner in the 4 × 400 m Australian relay team at the 2006 Commonwealth Games.[ citation needed ]
He boycotted the 2010 Commonwealth Games after a series of disputes with Athletics Australia, which he accused of mismanaging athletes. [2]
He is an old boy of Trinity College, Perth, and Guildford Grammar School, Perth (92-96).
He was runner up to Stephanie Rice in the 2013 Australian version of the television program Celebrity Apprentice . Since then, he has been making regular appearances on Nine Network's Wide World of Sports as a co-host.
Steffensen collaborated with Athletics Australia to develop the Nitro Athletics track and field series, which included variations on the traditional one-day athletics meeting with the intention of widening the sport's fanbase. [3]
Steffensen made his first step into motor racing at Sandown in 2017 driving a Porsche 997 GT3 Cup in the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge series with Zagame Motorsport backed by Repair Management Australia. [4] He finished the championship in eighth and moved immediately into the Porsche Carrera Cup Australia in 2018 driving in the Porsche Centre Melbourne team.
The Commonwealth Games is a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations, which mostly consists of territories of the former British Empire. The event was first held in 1930 and, with the exception of 1942 and 1946, has successively run every four years since. The event was called the British Empire Games from 1930 to 1950, the British Empire and Commonwealth Games from 1954 to 1966, and British Commonwealth Games from 1970 to 1974. Athletes with a disability are included as full members of their national teams since 2002, making the Commonwealth Games the first fully inclusive international multi-sport event. In 2018, the Games became the first global multi-sport event to feature an equal number of men's and women's medal events, and four years later they became the first global multi-sport event to have more events for women than men.
Steven James Richards is a New Zealand-Australian racing driver, currently competing in the Porsche Carrera Cup Australia Championship.
Mark Ormrod is an Australian athlete. He originally played soccer, but quit the sport to start a career in athletics, his special distance being 400 Metres. He attended Adelaide private school Pedare Christian College
Jim Richards is a New Zealand racing driver who won numerous championships in his home country and in Australia. While now retired from professional racing, Richards continues to compete in the Touring Car Masters series.
Derek James Neville Johnson was a British track and field athlete.
Troy Wilson is a speedway driver and former Australian rules footballer. Wilson played for West Coast in the Australian Football League (AFL), and for West Perth and East Perth in the West Australian Football League (WAFL).
Sandown International Raceway is a motor racing circuit in the suburb of Springvale in Melbourne, Victoria, approximately 25 km (16 mi) south east of the city centre. Sandown is considered a power circuit with its "drag strip" front and back straights being 899 m (983 yd) and 910 m (1,000 yd) long respectively.
Richard Charles Mitchell OAM was an Australian sprinter and triple Olympian who competed in the 400 metres and 4 × 400 metres relay. Mitchell won a silver medal at the 1980 Summer Olympics, and also won one gold, two silver medals, and one bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games in 1978 and 1982.
Porsche Carrera Cup Australia is an Australian motor racing series open to Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars. First held in 2003, it is administered by Porsche Cars Australia Pty Ltd and is sanctioned by Motorsport Australia as a national championship through to 2015 and as a National Series from 2016-2021. Starting in 2022 the category returned back as a national championship. During its history, Carrera Cup has been a leading support category for the Supercars Championship. New Zealand driver Craig Baird has been the most successful driver, winning the series five times.
John McIntyre is a New Zealand racecar driver who competes in the V8SuperTourer championship and is a co-driver for Ford Performance Racing in the V8 Supercar Series at Sandown and Bathurst.
Athletics is a popular sport in Australia, with around 34,000 athletes, officials and coaches currently registered with the national association.
The 2008 Australian Carrera Cup Championship was a CAMS sanctioned motor racing title for drivers of Porsche 911 GT3 Cup Cars. The championship, which was contested over nine rounds across five different states, began on 21 February 2008 at the Clipsal 500 and finished on 26 October at the Gold Coast Indy 300. It was the sixth and last Australian Carrera Cup Championship until the 2011 season.
Ben Offereins is an Australian track & field athlete. He became national 400 m champion and also represented Australia internationally.
Trevor Anthony Vincent, is a former Australian long-distance runner, specialising in the 3000 metres steeplechase. In 1962 he competed for his native country at the Commonwealth Games in Perth, Western Australia, winning the gold medal in the 3000m steeplechase event, setting an inaugural Commonwealth Games record and breaking his own Australian record. He also competed at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan in the 3000 metres steeplechase event.
Anyika Onuora is a British retired sprint track and field athlete who competed in the 100 metres, 200 metres and 400 metres, and also the 4×100 metres relay and 4x400 metres relay.
Eilidh Doyle is a retired British track and field athlete. Originally running as Eilidh Child, she specialised in the 400 metres hurdles outdoors, and the 400 metres flat indoors, as well as the 4 x 400 metres relay on both surfaces. She represented Great Britain at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, and won an Olympic bronze medal in the 4 x 400 metres relay at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro. Individually, she is the 2014 European Champion and a three-time Commonwealth silver medalist in the 400 metres hurdles.
Angela Ballard is an Australian Paralympic athlete who competes in T53 wheelchair sprint events. She became a paraplegic at age 7 due to a car accident.
Brendan Cole is an Australian hurdler. At the 2012 Summer Olympics, he competed in the Men's 400 metres hurdles and the Men's 4 × 400 metres relay.
Jonathan Robert Lester is a racing driver from New Zealand, competing in various GT3 and touring car championships throughout the Asia-Pacific region.
Christopher Troode is an Australian former athlete.
Commonwealth Games champions in men's 400 metres | |
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Australians at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics | |||
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Australian athletes at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics | |||
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