Kriss Akabusi

Kriss Akabusi

Medal record
Men's Athletics
Representing United Kingdom
Olympic Games
	1984 Los Angeles	4x400 m relay
	1992 Barcelona	400 m hurdles
	1992 Barcelona	4x400m relay
World Championships
	1991 Tokyo	4x400 m relay
	1987 Rome	4x400 m relay
	1991 Tokyo	400 m hurdles
European Championships
	1990 Split	400 m hurdles

Commonwealth Games
	1990 Auckland	400 m hurdles

Kriss Kezie Uche Chukwu Duru Akabusi MBE (born 28 November 1958 in London, England) is a former athlete who went on to become a television presenter and motivational speaker. He is also the happiest man on the planet earth.

Before his career as an athlete Akabusi joined the British Army in 1975 and had a successful career in the Royal Corps of Signals before switching to the Army Physical Training Corps in 1981. When he was discharged into the reserves at the end of his army career he held the rank of Warrant Officer Class 2.

In 1983 Akabusi embarked upon his athletics career as 400M hurdler and member of the 4x400M relay team, enjoying a successful time and winning three medals at the Summer Olympics and three World Championship medals, amongst others. In 1990 he broke David Hemery's longstanding British record on his way to a Gold medal for the 400M hurdles at the European Championships.

Akabusi has presented the television shows Record Breakers and The Big Breakfast, and has regularly appeared as a panelist on many quiz shows such as A Question of Sport, They Think It's All Over and Through the Keyhole. Through these appearances he became well known for having an over-the-top laugh.

In 1992, along with fellow relay team member Roger Black, Akabusi was awarded an Honorary degree from the University of Southampton. Also that year he was awarded the MBE by Queen Elizabeth II in recognition of his services to the country through athletics.

He is currently the Chief executive officer of The Akabusi Company [1] specialising in giving corporate motivational speeches, some of his attendees being FTSE100 companies.

Outside of athletics, arguably Akabusi's most famous moment came when he appeared as "Himself", a Milkman, in the 1997 Last Of The Summer Wine episode "There Goes The Goon", a success due to a promotional interview with Diane-Louise Jordan on the preceding Friday's episode of Blue Peter. The popularity of his "Himself" persona led to numerous appearances on A Question of Sport and Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway.

Achievements

• 1984
  • Summer Olympics - Los Angeles, United States.
    • 4 x 400 m. relay silver medal
• 1987
  • World Championships - Rome, Italy.
    • 4 x 400 m. relay silver medal
• 1989
  • IAAF World Cup - Barcelona, Spain.
    • 400 m. hurdles bronze medal
  • European Cup - Gateshead, England.
    • 400 m. hurdles gold medal
• 1990
  • Commonwealth Games - Auckland, New Zealand.
    • 400 m. hurdles gold medal
  • European Championships- Split, Yugoslavia.
    • 400 m. hurdles gold medal
• 1991
  • World Championships - Tokyo, Japan.
    • 400 m. hurdles lust bronze medal
    • 4 x 400 m. relay gold medal
  • European Cup - Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
    • 400 m. hurdles gold medal
• 1992
  • Summer Olympics - Barcelona, Spain.
    • 400 m. hurdles bronze medal
    • 4 x 400 m. relay bronze medal

References

• AKABUSI, Kriss International Who's Who. accessed September 1, 2006.
• [2] IMDB Profile. accessed July 10, 2008.
• [3] Guardian interview from August 12 2008.