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Kriss Akabusi is a British athletics legend and a highly sought-after motivational speaker. He gained international fame in athletics, most notably as a World Champion in the 4x400m relay and as the winner of three European Championship titles. His most iconic moment came in 1990 when he secured a gold medal at the European Championships, setting a British 400m hurdles record of 47.92 seconds. Over the years, Kriss has become a household name, not only through his sporting success but also through his television appearances and inspirational work as a speaker.
Kriss’ early career in athletics began in 1983 when he joined the British 4x400m relay team. He quickly rose to prominence, winning a silver medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics. By the late 1980s, Kriss had made a name for himself in the 400m hurdles, winning numerous medals, including a bronze at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and a gold at the 1990 Commonwealth Games. His triumph at the 1991 World Championships, where he anchored the British relay team to a victory over the Americans, remains one of the greatest moments in British athletics history.
Since retiring from competitive athletics, Kriss has built an impressive career as a broadcaster and motivational speaker. He became a familiar face on television, notably as the presenter of Channel 4’s The Big Breakfast and the BBC’s Record Breakers. In addition to his broadcasting success, Kriss founded The Akabusi Charitable Trust and continues to be an active contributor to various television and radio programmes. In recognition of his services to athletics, he was awarded an MBE in 1992.
Kriss Akabusi is a high-performance speaker, inspiring others by sharing his athletic success and life lessons. He is highly regarded as a motivational speaker because of his ability to translate these athletic experiences into valuable lessons for businesses. Known for his infectious energy, humour, and authenticity, Kriss inspires audiences to set goals, overcome challenges, and achieve success. His background in sports, combined with his corporate experience, makes him a popular choice for keynote speeches and workshops, ensuring that his messages resonate across various industries.
Kriss Akabusi is regularly booked to engage audiences at events, read their latest feedback below:
“Kriss recently attended a leadership offsite after previously attending our Sales and Service Conference (6 weeks prior to the offsite) where he was very engaging and inspirational to over 300 attendees. With this in mind, we engaged him to work with our emerging leadership team of 30 people. Once again he was exceptionally impressive, engaging a room of 30 people for over 5 hours (and ran over by 2 hours!) – with his stories, practical advice and highly energetic approach. Huge thanks for taking this event to another level and helping our leadership team on the next step of the journey.”
“Fantastic session with Kriss – very engaging and high energy. Kriss took the time beforehand to really understand our company and our values and so his messages on the day were very aligned. The delegates loved the surprise and many commented on the value Kriss added to the overall conference.”
“We invited Kriss to present at our annual Global Conference and we couldn’t have asked for anything better. He was funny, engaging, entertaining, inspirational and hugely relevant. The hairs on the back of our hands standing on end with his electricity! Kriss’s tone and content were absolutely perfect and he tailored his act beautifully to fit with our key conference theme and messages. People will be talking about Kriss Akabusi at our conference for years to come! Thanks for helping us deliver the best Speedo Conference ever. Boom! Boom! Boom!”
“We have contracted Kriss to be our ambassador for an exciting new vitamin range that we launched recently and to utilise Kriss’s motivational talent at various company functions. We were given the heads up about Kriss and what an asset he could be for our company and to say that turned out to be a gross understatement wouldn’t be far wrong. We have dealt with people in the public eye before with mixed results but dealing with Kriss has been an absolute breath of fresh air. Kriss has automatically brought credibility to a new brand in a very competitive market and the launch sales have been way above our expectations. We are extremely grateful to have an association with the Akabusi company and we look forward to working with Kriss and his team for many years to come.”
The High-Performance Speakers Agency is the UK’s leading bureau for teamwork, leadership, and marginal gains speakers. We hire speakers for corporate conferences and events across the world and cater to both in-person occasions and online webinars. Our roster includes sportspeople, business leaders, adventurers and more, to ensure audiences of all industries receive tailored, impactful advice on optimised performance.
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