Martin Gillingham
{{Short description|English sports commentator and journalist}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2025}}
{{Infobox sportsperson
| name = Martin Gillingham
| image =
| caption =
| nationality = British (English)
| sport = Athletics
| event = hurdles
| club = Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers
| birth_date = 9 September 1963
| birth_place = Leicester, England
| death_date =
| death_place =
| height =180 cm
| weight =74 kg
| medaltemplates=
}}
Martin Charles Gillingham (born 9 September 1963){{cite web | url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/gi/martin-gillingham-1.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200418041343/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/gi/martin-gillingham-1.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=April 18, 2020 | title=Martin Gillingham | publisher=Sports Reference LLC. | accessdate=June 24, 2012}} is an English sports commentator and journalist and former athlete, who competed at the 1984 Summer Olympics.{{cite web|url=https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/69069 |title=Biographical Information |website=Olympedia |access-date=15 June 2025}}
Biography
Gillingham was educated at the Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe,{{cite web | url=http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk/rgshiwyc/1998/email.htm | title=Who's Who | work=atschool.eduweb | accessdate=June 24, 2012 | url-status=dead | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20081002180134/http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk/rgshiwyc/1998/email.htm | archivedate=October 2, 2008 }} later dropped out of Harvard University in the United States, before going to Carnegie College in Leeds.{{citation needed|date=June 2025}}
He became the British 400 metres hurdles champion after winning the British AAA Championships title at the 1984 AAA Championships.{{cite web|url=https://www.nuts.org.uk/Champs/AAA/index.htm |title=AAA, WAAA and National Championships Medallists |website=National Union of Track Statisticians |access-date=15 June 2025}}{{cite web|url=http://www.gbrathletics.com/bc/aaa.htm |title=AAA Championships (men) |website=GBR Athletics |access-date=15 June 2025}} Later that year he represented Great Britain at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
Three years later he competed in the same event at the IAAF World Championships in Rome. His best time was 49.82sec which he set in finishing third behind Edwin Moses and Kriss Akabusi in a Grand Prix meeting at Crystal Palace, London in July 1987.
In 1992, he moved to South Africa to be the athletics and Olympics correspondent for the Johannesburg Sunday Times. He later became a talkshow host on radio station Capetalk in Cape Town.{{citation needed|date=June 2025}} In 2003, he returned to England after which he worked for five years on BBC Radio Five Live presenting sports bulletins and reporting on rugby matches and had a brief stint as a presenter on Talksport. He is now heard as a rugby commentator on the Heineken Cup and the United Rugby Championship on ViaPlay. He was also a member of ITV's commentary team at numerous Rugby World Cups.{{citation needed|date=June 2025}}
Gillingham provides expert analysis on French rugby, having worked for three seasons as lead commentator on ESPN's coverage of the Top 14 until they lost the rights at the end of the 2011/12 season. During the 2012/13 season his Top 14 commentary was heard on channels around the world including on Setanta Ireland, Premier Sports in the UK and SuperSport in Africa. The UK rights to French rugby moved to Sky Sports where he now commentates on the Top 14 matches.{{citation needed|date=June 2025}}
References
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Category:English sports broadcasters
Category:Sportspeople from Leicester
Category:English sports journalists
Category:Harvard University people
Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1984 Summer Olympics
Category:Olympic athletes for Great Britain
Category:British male hurdlers
Category:People educated at the Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe