Available to book
Katharine Merry
Katharine Merry brings elite sport's lessons on pressure and performance to organisations as an Olympic speaker, event host, and lead athletics commentator. She won 400m bronze at Sydney 2000 and was the first female announcer inside an Olympic stadium.
Katharine Merry is an Olympic medallist and lead athletics commentator who has spent two careers at the front line of sport, first on the track and now behind the microphone.
Katharine won 400m bronze at the Sydney 2000 Olympics and was world number one over 400m in 2001. She now commentates on athletics for BBC Radio 5 Live, the Paralympics for Channel 4, and netball for Sky Sports. At Tokyo 2020 she became the first woman to announce in-stadium at an Olympic Games. She was inducted into the England Athletics Hall of Fame in 2018 and appointed Deputy Lieutenant of the West Midlands in 2021.
That combination gives Katharine an unusual vantage point. She has been the athlete carrying four years of preparation into a single race, and she has spent twenty years since reading other people's performances live, without a script, while millions listen. She talks about pressure from both sides of it.
Audiences take away a clear-eyed account of the gap between talent and results, what happens when a career ends early, and what it costs to be the first woman in a role. Katharine works well for after-dinner audiences and as a host who can steer a room.
Book Katharine for an event that needs a serious story and a safe pair of hands on the microphone.
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frequently asked questions
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Katharine Merry draws on her dual experience as a competitive athlete and live broadcaster to frame talks around the contrast between internal preparation and external performance — what it takes to carry years of training into a single race, and what it means to read that same pressure in others in real time, without a script.
Katharine Merry DL speaks on elite athletic performance, the psychology of pressure, and career transition after sport. She won 400m bronze at the Sydney 2000 Olympics, was world number one over 400m in 2001, and became the first woman to announce in-stadium at an Olympic Games at Tokyo 2020.
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Three to six months ahead is comfortable for most events, and 12 months is better for large conferences, peak-season dates or one specific in-demand speaker. Shorter timelines are workable, and PepTalk regularly fills last-minute and replacement bookings within days. Availability is the constraint, so get in touch as soon as you have a date.
