Dick Steane

The son of a senior Metropolitan Police officer, athlete Dick Steane only took up serious running in 1963 after going to London University, where he studied to be a microbiologist.

Before the end of his first season as a competitive sprinter, Steane had beaten the former world record holder Peter Radford, become the year’s fastest Briton over 220 yards, won the first of three Southern Counties 220 titles, and made his Great Britain début. The highlight of his first full year, however, was in going to the World Student Games (Summer Universiade) at Porto Alegre, Brazil, and winning the 200 metres silver medal ahead of the reigning Olympic champion Livio Berruti of Italy. Steane followed that with gold, alongside Menzies Campbell, John Boulter, and Adrian Metcalfe, in the 4x400 relay.

A member of Wigmore Harriers before joining Thames Valley Harriers, Steane won the Inter-Counties 220 title in 1964 and 1968, was third in the AAAs in 1967 and 1968, and added two more Southern Counties titles in 1966 and 1967. He could have won more had he not missed the first half of 1965 due to his job taking him to work in Italy for six months.

Steane went to the 1968 Mexico Olympics and, despite setting a PB of 20.66 in his opening heat, was eliminated in a semi-final that contained two of the three eventual medallists, Peter Norman (Australia) and John Carlos (USA). Steane was a reserve for the sprint relay squad.

Personal Best: 200 – 20.66 (1968).