John Steffensen

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John Steffensen
medal table
John Steffensen (2nd from left) at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin
John Steffensen (2nd from left) at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin

sprinter

AustraliaAustralia Australia
Olympic Summer Games
silver 2004 Athens 4 × 400 m
World championships
bronze 2009 Berlin 4 × 400 m
Commonwealth Games
gold 2006 Melbourne 400 m
gold 2006 Melbourne 4 × 400 m

John Steffensen (born August 30, 1982 in Perth ) is an Australian sprinter who specializes in the 400-meter run .

Career

He originally started his sporting career as a long jumper , but switched to sprinting in 2002. He was able to qualify for the Australian 4-by-400-meter relay , which took part in the World Athletics Championships in Paris in 2003 , but missed the final.

At the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens , he ran again in the relay. As a starting runner in the finals, he surprisingly won the silver medal behind the US relay team in 3: 00.60 minutes together with Mark Ormrod , Patrick Dwyer and Clinton Hill .

At the World Athletics Championships in Helsinki in 2005 , he finished eighth in the 400-meter run in 45.46 s. In 2006 he was first Australian national champion over 400 m. At the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne , he won the gold medal over the same distance in a personal best of 44.73 s and was also victorious in the relay.

At the 2007 World Athletics Championships in Osaka , he retired despite a time of 44.95 s in the semi-final of the 400-meter run. At the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing , he finished sixth in the Australian 4 x 400 meter relay in 3: 00.02 min.

In 2009 he won a bronze medal in the 4 x 400 meter relay at the World Athletics Championships in Berlin . As a starting runner, he achieved a time of 3: 00.90 min together with Ben Offereins , Tristan Thomas and Sean Wroe . Steffensen also competed in the 400-meter run in Berlin, but was eliminated in the semi-finals.

In the 2010 season, Steffensen had to take a break due to an injury and asked the Australian Athletics Association to guarantee a starting place for the Commonwealth Games in Delhi in autumn. This was denied to him. Steffensen then caused a scandal when he sharply criticized the association in public and boycotted participation after he had still regularly qualified. Because of his statements, classified as offensive, the association banned him for three months in December, retrospectively to November 17, 2010.

John Steffensen is 1.80 m tall and has a competition weight of 71 kg. He starts for the Bankstown Sports Club and is trained by Bobby Kersee.

Top performances

  • 200 m : 20.79 s, March 2, 2007, Melbourne
  • 400 m: 44.73 s, March 22, 2006, Melbourne
  • Long jump: 7.18 m, February 2, 2002, Perth

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Sunday Morning Herald: Steffensen banned for 'put downs' , December 21, 2010