Dean Macey facts for kids
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | The Dean Machine | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 12 December 1977 Rochford, Essex, England |
||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.96 metres (6 ft 5 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Event(s) | Decathlon | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | Harrow | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Achievements and titles | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal best(s) | 8603 points | ||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Medal record
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
Dean Macey, born on December 12, 1977, is a famous English athlete from Canvey Island. He's super well-known for competing in the decathlon, which is like a super-athlete competition with ten different events! He competed from 1995 to 2008. During that time, he won a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games, two medals at the World Championships, and even finished fourth twice at the Olympic Games.
After injuries made him stop decathlon, he tried a new sport: bobsleigh! He competed in bobsleigh from 2008 to 2010. Dean is also a big fan of fishing. He has even hosted TV shows about fishing, like "On Coarse" for the Discovery Channel and "Fishing Allstars" on ITV4. He also set a record time on the "Total Wipeout" TV show! Later, he made many fishing videos for YouTube.
Contents
Dean's Athletics Journey
Dean Macey was born in Rochford, Essex. He started his athletics career doing different sports like high jump, triple jump, and javelin throw. Eventually, he moved on to the octathlon and then found his true calling in the decathlon. When he was younger, he even played football for Arsenal! But he chose to focus on athletics instead.
Winning Silver in 1999
Dean had a huge moment in 1999 at the 1999 World Championships in Athletics in Seville, Spain. He won a silver medal in the decathlon! He scored his personal best at that time, 8556 points. He finished just behind Tomáš Dvořák from the Czech Republic. That same year, Dean was honored as the first-ever winner of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Young Personality award.
Olympic Challenges in 2000
The next year, at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia, Dean faced some challenges because of injuries. Even so, he achieved another personal best score of 8567 points. But he just missed out on a medal, finishing in fourth place. The gold medal went to Erki Nool from Estonia.
Bronze Medal in 2001
Dean was back on the medal podium at the 2001 World Championships in Athletics in Edmonton, Canada. He improved his personal best score again, reaching 8603 points! This amazing effort earned him a bronze medal. He finished behind Tomáš Dvořák, who won gold, and Erki Nool, who took silver.
Coming Back from Injuries
Injuries kept Dean from competing in the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, England, and other big events. He worked for BBC TV during the Commonwealth Games. He made his comeback in July 2004. His score of 7842 points was just enough to qualify for the Summer Olympic Games that year.
Fourth Place Again in 2004
At the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, Dean performed very well, especially after his time away from competing. He was close to winning a medal, but a few events, like the pole vault and javelin throw, didn't go as planned. This meant he finished in fourth place at the Olympics for the second time.
Commonwealth Gold in 2006
Despite still dealing with some injuries, Dean led the 2006 Commonwealth Games after the first day. He even set a personal best in the shot put with a throw of 15.83 meters! On the second day, an Australian athlete named Jason Dudley started to catch up. This was because Dean had some injury-affected performances in the 110 m hurdles and javelin.
Going into the very last event, the 1500 metres, Dean needed to score 38 points more than Dudley to win the gold medal. He ran the race in 4 minutes and 34.22 seconds, which was enough to win the gold medal by 69 points! Dean finished with a total of 8,143 points. Maurice Smith from Jamaica won silver, and Jason Dudley took bronze.
Retirement from Athletics
In 2008, Dean Macey decided to retire from athletics. He had not been able to reach the qualifying standard for the 2008 Olympic Games. He wrote a regular column in a newspaper called "Deano's Diary," where he shared his thoughts on the Beijing Games.
After retiring, Dean still stayed active. In 2009, he completed a 10-kilometer run in Edinburgh, Scotland. He also worked as a commentator for sports events, including the 2010 Commonwealth Games for Radio 5 Live and the 2010 Asian Games for Al Jazeera Sports. He also commented on the 2012 IAAF World Indoor Championships for Channel 4.
Dean's Best Performances
Dean Macey achieved some amazing results during his decathlon career. Here are some of his personal best scores:
- Decathlon: 8,603 points (achieved in Edmonton on August 7, 2001)
- 100 metres: 10.69 seconds (Sevilla, August 24, 1999)
- Long jump: 7.77 meters (Sydney, September 27, 2000)
- Shot put: 15.83 meters (Melbourne, March 20, 2006)
- High jump: 2.15 meters (Edmonton, August 6, 2001)
- 400 metres: 46.21 seconds (Edmonton, August 6, 2001)
- 110 metres hurdles: 14.34 seconds (Edmonton, August 7, 2001)
- Discus throw: 48.34 meters (Athens, August 24, 2004)
- Pole vault: 4.80 meters (Sydney, September 28, 2000)
- Javelin throw: 64.03 meters (Sevilla, August 25, 1999)
- 1500 metres: 4:23.45 (Sydney, September 28, 2000)
Bobsleigh Adventure
After leaving athletics, Dean Macey took on a new challenge: trying to qualify for the 2010 Winter Olympics in bobsleigh! He trained with another former athlete, sprinter Jason Gardener. They competed together in the two-man event at the 2008 British Bobsleigh Championships in Italy, finishing in sixth place. Later, Dean also worked as a bobsleigh commentator for Eurosport.
See also
In Spanish: Dean Macey para niños
