Michael East (athlete)

Michael East

Personal information
Nationality	British (English)
Born	20 January 1978 Reading, England
Height	188 cm (6 ft 2 in)
Weight	68 kg (150 lb)
Sport
Sport	Athletics
Event	middle-distance
Club	Newham and Essex Beagles
Medal record Representing   Great Britain Men's athletics Commonwealth Games Representing   England 2002 Manchester 1500 metres

Michael John East (born 20 January 1978) is a retired middle-distance athlete who won the 1500 metres gold medal at the 2002 Commonwealth Games and competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics. ^[1]

Biography

East represented England at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, where he won the gold medal. ^[2] He was the last British male to win a major 1500m title until Jake Wightman became World Champion in 2022. ^[3]

East became the British 1500 metres champion after winning the British AAA Championships title at the 2001 AAA Championships. ^{[4] [5]} In the IAAF European Cup, East finishing second and third in 2002 and 2003 respectively in the 1500 metres event. He nearly added to his medal tally when finishing third at the 2004 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Budapest, Hungary only to find himself disqualified for interfering with the run of the Kenyan Laban Rotich.

He reached the final of the 1500m at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, finishing in 6th place. He was the only British male at those Games to reach an individual athletics final on the track. He was a semi-finalist at the 2005 IAAF World Championships but missed most of the 2006 and 2007 seasons because of a knee injury. As a result, in November 2007 he had his lottery funding removed, making it much harder for him to return to top rank competition. He had to rely on financial support from two Portsmouth companies. ^[3] East called the decision by UK Athletics "crazy" and "shortsighted." ^[6] He returned to compete at the 2008 IAAF World Indoor Championships but was not selected for the squad for the 2008 Summer Olympics as he could finish only 8th in the trials held in July. He announced his retirement on 8 September 2008. ^[3]

References

1. "Biographical Information". Olympedia. Retrieved 12 July 2025.
2. "Manchester 2002 Team". Team England. Retrieved 12 July 2025.
3. "Collins gone but repercussions still being felt as East retires". Inside the Games. 7 September 2008. Archived from the original on 14 September 2008. Retrieved 13 May 2009.
4. "AAA, WAAA and National Championships Medallists". National Union of Track Statisticians. Retrieved 12 July 2025.
5. "AAA Championships (men)". GBR Athletics. Retrieved 12 July 2025.
6. Broadbent, Rick (6 March 2008). "Rubber-band man Michael East bounces back". The Times . Retrieved 14 August 2008.^{[ dead link ]}

External links

• British Olympic Association profile