Former 400m hurdler Richard Yates talks to Ben Bloom about the electoral failure that inspired him to switch to sports law and now sees him take on the role of UK Athletics’ chief adviser.
They say that every experience shapes the individual, often in ways one may not realize. For others, the knock-on effects are more obvious.
When Richard Yates was appointed as UK Athletics’ chief adviser earlier this year, it was a full-circle moment for the former international hurdler, who might never have found himself in such a position but for the events of the summer of 2008.
With Britain’s two leading 400m hurdlers, Dai Green and Rhys Williams, struggling with injuries that year, an opportunity arose for a new figure to fill the void of their absence. Yeats was that man.
At the British Championships, which doubled as the Olympic trials, he won his first national title in a then-personal best of 49.50, making him the only athlete so far that season to reach the ‘B’ standard and ensuring he could be selected for Beijing. A few weeks later, at the prestigious London Grand Prix, he lowered that mark even further to 49.06, finishing second in the elite field. This time he had set the ‘A’ standard, even though it was days after the selection deadline. Despite a public campaign to include Yates, he was left out of the British team, which instead decided not to send a men’s 400m hurdles to Beijing.
“I was 22,” Yates says. “As a young athlete, there was an argument that I could be selected. I was never the most gifted athlete, so I think a lot of people saw me as someone who broke the mold that year. This had further implications for athletes who, like me, may have simply been out of a world-class performance program. in high-standard racing, it also raised my profile.”
A year earlier, Yates had completed his law degree at the University of Leeds. He chose not to appeal the voters’ verdict, suggesting: “At the time, I think I felt like I didn’t want to get into the team on a technical legal appeal.”
It’s a decision he admits he might have made differently had he known then what he knows now, as the rant would have continued to affect the rest of his competitive life and beyond.
“Everybody has had issues with choices, so I’m not presenting it as a sob story,” Yates says. “But it definitely shaped some of my perspectives and experiences. I think there is definitely a connection with my work now as the experience shaped my interest in governance, the legal side of sport and national governing bodies.
“I came into the UK Athletics Athletes’ Commission as vice-chairman. Obviously, I was always studying to do law, it wasn’t clear to me which corner of the law I was going to go down, and I didn’t necessarily put the two together. But when I got into management, it seemed very natural for me to do it.”
With the benefit of hindsight, she recognizes that the decision not to select her for the Beijing Olympics was something she never fully recovered from on the track. He reached two Commonwealth Games 400m hurdles finals, finishing fifth in 2010 and seventh in 2014. He also formed part of the British 4x400m team that won a bronze medal at the 2010 Commonwealth Games. But he has never represented his country in a global competition, which was also passed during the 2013 World Cup selection.
“I think I got a lot out of myself,” she reflects. “I don’t think I was naturally one of the most gifted athletes, I trained pretty hard, stuck with it and worked to get to the level I did.
“I have always regretted the 2008 Olympic situation. But you can look at it in a couple of ways. I was lucky that Rhys and Dy got injured during that time. I probably wouldn’t have passed the trials if they were fully trained.
“But I could never quite put the matter to bed. I don’t know why. I was 22 and didn’t beat my personal best again. The gremlins associated with that were interfering with my ability to run a PB, I think.
Describing herself as a “modest, warped-realist person”, Yates says she was acutely aware of “how good I was, but also how good I wasn’t”. Suggesting that “Co-ops were probably my level”, he explains how the discovery in late 2016 that England’s future squads would be smaller for the competition prompted his elite retirement at the age of 30.
After finishing second at the Manchester International in mid-August 2017, he simply decided.
For most of his track and field career, Yates worked full-time as a lawyer, inspired by that 2008 selection failure to move into the world of sports law. He moved from private practice to become head of rugby league legal because he was “motivated by making decisions that were for the greater good of the sport and would have an impact on the actual pitch”. He also sat on the Football Association and Sport Resolutions appeal committees before taking up his current role at UK Athletics.
But that’s not his only connection to this sport. For five years after retirement, his training focused on triathlons, cycling, several half-marathons and regular sacks. Then, by chance, he found himself back on the track’s starting line.
“When I retired, I had absolutely no doubt that I would stay retired,” he says. “I didn’t think there was any way I would run the 400m hurdles again, it was almost a bit of a mistake I made.
“I was helping some girls at Trafford (Athletics Club) with their hurdles and the next thing I knew I was running alongside them at training. Then I was racing.”
After a half-decade hiatus, he began pitching in local league games in late spring 2021. It turned out he was still fast enough to qualify for the British Championship, so he took the opportunity to reacquaint himself with competing alongside the country’s best in Manchester. The following year he did it again and for the past three winters he has competed in the 60m hurdles at the British Indoor Championships.
Turning 40 this January, he was the oldest competitor in any running event at next month’s national indoor championships in Birmingham, outnumbered only by throwers and walkers. His time of 8.47 did not see him progress from the heats, but he had achieved his goal of reaching the British Championships in his fifth decade.
“I was totally out there making up the numbers, but I did it and was pretty pleased with myself to get to the starting line,” he says. “When I crossed the finish line, I was just happy to finish one game. When I go to the warm-up area for an event, I feel so old. Most of the people involved in the sport when I was running are coaches, administrators or officials.”
In a stroke of dark humour, he was asked to present medals to the men who had climbed the 60m hurdles podium in Birmingham in his absence. Ever the lawyer, he’s quick to point out that he’s “aware of the conflict of interest, but I’m so far removed from the times those top guys do that I don’t think anyone would suggest I’m anywhere near the national team.”
It is unknown whether he will compete in the British Futures Championship in the coming years. He has not run the 400m hurdles since 2023 and is not set to return to the track for a full lap. If he can run fast enough to qualify for next year’s 60m hurdles, he can accept his spot, but that’s not a goal he’s particularly aiming for.
Masters athletics isn’t what he wants either, and instead he’s likely to run a few times over the 110m hurdles for Trafford in the Northern Athletics League, continuing to do what he’s always loved without any pressure;
