Olympic medallist and European 400m champion answers your questions and talks sunglasses, dream teams and more!

Martyn Rooney, Britain’s Olympic 4x400m bronze medallist, European 400m champion and multiple world 4x400m medallist, is the latest guest on our new Ask The Athlete series.

Rooney answers your questions about his dream 4x400m team and race, why sunglasses are so important, the best piece of advice he’s ever received in athletics and so much more.

Have a read of some of his answers below and then enjoy the full 30-minute episode.

You’ve competed at so many championships and international events, which has been your favourite meet/venue and why? 

“This is really tough as I have been doing it since I was 18. I’ve competed at a lot of stadiums at a lot of championships but I think my favourite is the Bird’s Nest in Beijing. For me it’s perfect. I think there are quicker tracks out there but I though the whole environment, the architecture, the way it looked made me exited and pumped up to walk in there.

“Just the way you feel like you’re in a cauldron and you keep looking up and up and the people are on top of you. London you just feel it goes out and out but Beijing you just felt like you’re in with the crowd. I also love competing at Brussels so that and Beijing are my two favourites.”

Why do you wear sunglasses? 

“For me as a kid I was never, and it might be hard to believe, cocky! I was quite shy, a bit of an introvert, and I learnt to be this athlete who was a bit arrogant and when I saw other people wear sunglasses I was like, that’s a cocky person over there. It just really started by accident where I raced in Beijing at the world juniors and I couldn’t see in the heats so my sponsor gave me some sunglasses and I was like, ‘this is amazing’.

“It just gave me a whole new mentality from being this nervous kid to being confident, block everyone out and I’ve stuck with it ever since. In the final I didn’t wear them and I didn’t run that well so I’m also a bit superstitious about it. When I raced indoors for the one and only time last year I feel I might’ve run a bit better if I had the glasses on! So it’s definitely just a superstitious thing for me now.”

You toyed with the idea of stepping up to the 800m a few years ago, why did you ultimately not make that change? 

“As a kid I was an 800m, 1500m and cross country runner who just dropped into pole vault or long jump or whatever for my club. I really just stumbled into the 400m and kind of got stuck in it. I had goals, that I wanted to break the European record and win medals at an international level and I thought I had the best opportunity to do that in the 400m.

“Why didn’t I step up to the 800m? Probably because I was just so focused on my goals in the 400m. For a couple of years the 800m wasn’t the strongest event and people were satisfied with 1.45s and 1.46s but you look at the talent there now like Daniel Rowden, Guy Learmonth and Jake Wightman, Kyle Langford and the rest and to be a British middle-distance runner is exciting right now so I’m just going to enjoy it from the outside.”

If you could choose an ultimate 400m race to compete in, who would be in the other seven lanes? 

“Iwan Thomas would be one, I never had the opportunity to race against him. Wayde van Niekerk 100%, he’s an unbelievable athlete, likewise Steven Gardiner. Kirani James is in and you can’t help but love the guy. He’s beaten you by a second or half a second and he comes over and is like, ‘thanks, it was an honour to race against you’ and you’re dying inside! Wayde is exactly the same and I really enjoy being around those guys.

“Myself, that’s four. Andrew Steele is sneaking in and I’d chuck Karsten Warholm in as well. I love him, just a fan. Finally, I’d say Fred Kerley. I’m lucky enough to have raced against all of them apart from Iwan but he’s been brilliant for me in my career. Anyway, I diverse.”

Your dream team 4x400m, limited to guys you’ve been in relay teams with. Doesn’t have to be the fastest guys on paper, just three guys you want out there in the mix. 

“I’d always put Rabah Yousif first. I think in 2015 he did an amazing job and I’d love to have that Rabah on first leg. Second leg is quite a tough one between Delano Williams and Dwayne Cowan. Delano in Rio ran 44 flat and the way he did it was like if he was a pro and had been doing it for years. He just schooled people like Chris Brown and Jonathan Borlée, and with Dwayne we wouldn’t have won a medal in London without him. I’m going to go for Delano as the guys he took out was incredible.

“Third leg is Tim Benjamin. Every day of the week. He really gave me the right advice in the right way when I went to Helsinki. It wasn’t soft and pansy, he drove me in the right way, kind of a telling off but it was what I needed. He was the British No.1 and he was so focused on a team medal which inspired me. Then I’d go fourth. That would be my strike four!”

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