Relay ace Derek Redmond welcomed to Wellington school

Former Olympian Derek Redmond visited Shropshire to inspire youngsters to chase their dreams.

The former 4x400m relay World Champion was at the Charlton School in Wellington to give a speech to pupils and help kick-start its Olympic fortnight. More than 900 pupils at the school cheered Mr Redmond as he told tales of two pivotal moments in his career.

First he described the build-up to the moment he won the 4X400m relay at the World Championships in 1991, with team-mates Roger Black, John Regis and Kriss Akabusi.

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They clinched gold against all the odds competing against the United States – a nation which had been unbeaten in the 4x400m relay for 57 years.

But he received the biggest cheer after showing a film of the horrific moment his hamstring tore in the semi-finals of the Olympic 400m in 1992.

He had been favourite to win gold, but ended up fighting through the pain of his injury to complete a full lap, limping along with the help of his father Jim.

He told the youngsters: "It does not matter who you are, or what you do, things do not quite work out the way you want them but that does not mean you should give up on your dreams, aims and goals.

"I hope you all have some sort of dream and you must stick to it. Sometimes it's not what you do but how you go about it that matters so do not ever give up – even when the chips are down and things are going wrong, do not ever give up."

Even though the injury ended Mr Redmond's athletic career he said he had then gone into basketball, professional rugby and now races motorbikes.

Pupil Josef Keady, 15, from Leegomery, said: "It was very inspiring."