Steven James Burke (born 4 March 1988) is a former English track and road cyclist, who rode for the now disbanded cycling team.Steven Burke Biography British Cycling; Accessed 16 August 2008 He represented Britain at the 2008 Summer Olympics, beating his pre Olympics personal best in the individual pursuit by eleven seconds, to take the bronze medal. He stood on the podium alongside his cycling idol, gold medallist Bradley Wiggins.
During 2012, Burke was part of the Great Britain team that won the Olympic and World Championships, in the Team Pursuit discipline. He was part of the GB Team, that retained the team pursuit title at the 2016 Olympics. Burke was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2013 New Year Honours on 29 December 2012, for services to cycling.
Early life Burke was born in Burnley and lived in Colne, Lancashire during his early life, attending Park High School and later Nelson and Colne College (which named its sports centre after him). Born into a cycling family, both Burke's grandfather Brian Wesson, and his mother Sharon, have competed at national level. His dad Alvin also was a cyclist and competed in many time trials.
He began attending Manchester Velodrome as a teenager, previously being more interested in football.
Career Despite specialising in the team pursuit, Burke has an impressive turn of speed, demonstrated by his success as a junior in the scratch and kilo events. He was consistently beating Mark Cavendish in sprints, during training in 2007.
Burke has an impressive Olympic Games record having never been beaten in the Team Pursuit. Burke took the decision to retire in 2019 after achieving his Olympic goal of retaining their TP title.
Major results Track
2005 National Junior Championships 1st Kilo 3rd Points race 3rd Scratch 1st Team pursuit, UEC European Under-23 Championships 2nd Team pursuit, UCI World Junior Championships 2006 1st Team pursuit, UEC European Under-23 Championships 3rd Team pursuit, UCI World Junior Championships 2007 UEC European Under-23 Championships 1st Team pursuit 3rd Individual pursuit National Championships 1st Scratch 1st Team pursuit 1st Individual pursuit, National Junior Championships 3rd Team pursuit, UCI World Cup Classics, Manchester 2008 National Championships 1st Individual pursuit 3rd Kilo 3rd Individual pursuit, Olympic Games 2009 1st Individual pursuit, UEC European Under-23 Championships 1st Kilo, National Championships 2011 1st Team pursuit, UEC European Championships 1st Individual pursuit, National Championships 2012 1st Team pursuit, Olympic Games 1st Team pursuit, UCI World Championships 2013 1st Team pursuit, UEC European Championships 2nd Team pursuit, UCI World Championships 2014 UCI World Cup 1st Team pursuit, London 2nd Team pursuit, Guadalajara 2nd Team pursuit, Commonwealth Games 2nd Individual pursuit, National Championships 2015 1st Team pursuit, UEC European Championships 3rd Kilo, National Championships 2016 1st Team pursuit, Olympic Games
World records Discipline Record Date Event Velodrome Team pursuit 3:53.295 4 April 2012 World Championships Hisense Arena (Melbourne) 3:52.499 2 August 2012 Olympic Games Lee Valley (London) 3:51.659 3 August 2012 3:50.570 12 August 2016 Olympic Games Rio Olympic 3:50.265
See also 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics gold post boxes
References
External links Motorpoint Pro-Cycling Steven Burke, articles at Pendletoday.co.uk British Cycling interview with Steven Burke, 23 July 2006