Peter Elliott

Peter Elliott (born 9 October 1962) is a former middle-distance runner from the United Kingdom. During his career, he won the gold medal in the 1500 metres at the 1990 Commonwealth Games, the silver medal in the 1500 metres at the 1988 Olympic Games, and the silver medal in the 800 metres at the 1987 World Championships.

Early life Elliott was brought up in Rawmarsh, near Rotherham, in the then West Riding of Yorkshire. He attended Rawmarsh Comprehensive School and later worked as a joiner at British Steel Corporation. He managed to establish himself as a world class athlete while working full-time. He lived at 40 Wheatcroft Avenue.

He began his athletic career by running in the Young Athletes League for his local club, Rotherham Harriers, where he variously held the under 15, under 16 and under 19 record for 800m. He also held the UK under-17 record with a time of 1 minute 50.7 seconds, which stood for nearly 10 years. He excelled as a schoolboy athlete, winning four English Schools titles, twice at 800 metres and twice over the country.

Career In August 1982, he set a 4 × 800 metres relay world record of 7 minutes 3.89 seconds with fellow British athletes Sebastian Coe, Steve Cram and Garry Cook. Although injury ended his 1982 season early, he won his first senior medal at the 1983 European Indoor Championships in the 800 m, in Budapest, winning the silver medal in 1:47.58 behind Spaniard Colomán Trabado. At the 1983 World Championships held in Helsinki, he finished 4th in the 800m final.

Elliott was not selected for the 1500m at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, losing out to the eventual gold and silver medallists, Sebastian Coe and Steve Cram, and the then world record holder, Steve Ovett. At the time, it was a very controversial decision. After Ovett and Cram had secured their places, the third place was either Coe's or Elliott's. Although Elliott defeated Coe at the AAA's Championships, the selectors opted for Coe who was the reigning Olympic champion having won the event at the Moscow Olympics in 1980. Elliott was selected for the 800m and qualified for the semi-finals, but had to withdraw due to an injury.

Elliott won a bronze medal in the 800m at the 1986 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, behind Steve Cram and Tom McKean. He then won a silver medal in the event at the 1987 World Championships in Rome in a personal best 1:43.41. Later that year, he improved his 1500 m best to 3:33.23 behind world record-holder Said Aouita in Rieti. Later in the year, he ran 1:42.97 over 800m in Seville (ranking him No. 1 in the world for 1990, and making him the third fastest Briton of all time over the distance) and in the same city also broke the world indoor record for 1500 metres, improving the previous best by Marcus O’Sullivan to 3:35.60. He was also the British 1500 metres champion, winning the AAA title in 1984 and 1988.

He set a British indoor mile record of 3:52.02 in 1990, which stood until bettered by Josh Kerr in February 2022, with Kerr's split time also bettering Elliott's British 1500m indoor record of 3:34.20. As of April 2026, he is the fifth fastest Briton of all time in the 800 m, after Coe, Ben Pattison, Max Burgin and Cram.

After retiring from competition running in 1992, Elliott became a coach and race organiser. He joined Newcastle-based sports marketing agency Nova International, where he was Director of Running. In 2004 he became the Athlete Services Manager for Yorkshire at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield.

Personal bests