Press Release - London Marathon - 4/4/18

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

       'People's champion' Michael Watson wins Spirit of London award

04/04/2018

Michael Watson - the heroic boxer who fought back from near-death to 
complete the 2003 London Marathon – has been named as a recipient of the 
new Spirit of London award.

Watson, 53, will be one of up to 26 people to receive a Spirit of London 
award in 2018, celebrating runners and others who embody the unique spirit 
of the world's greatest marathon.

David Wyeth and Matthew Rees have already been named as the first two 
recipients of the award. Wyeth, who was close to collapse, was famously 
helped down The Mall by Rees at last year's Virgin Money London Marathon in 
an act of comradeship that went viral around the world.

Watson has been chosen for a Spirit of London award for the courage and 
determination he showed to complete the 2003 London Marathon.

The Londoner was seriously injured during the final stages of a WBO World 
Super-Middleweight title fight against Chris Eubank in September 1991.

He collapsed in the ring and was rushed to hospital where he spent 40 days 
in a coma. Doctors feared he might never walk or talk again but he would 
not give in. He slowly recovered and learned first how to talk again and 
then, after six years in a wheelchair, how to walk again.

In 2003 he announced his intention to complete that year's London Marathon 
for the Brain & Spine Foundation. It took him six days, two hours, 27 
minutes and 17 seconds with each mile taking him around an hour to 
complete.

Watson said: "When I did the London Marathon it was a complete 
determination to succeed, to complete my mission because a lot of people 
could not see me doing the marathon. When I crossed that line it made me 
feel very emotional. Words just can't explain how I felt."

The crowds that supported Watson during his marathon effort led to him 
being known as the People's Champion – a title that still deeply moves him.

"It makes me overwhelmed to know the love people have for me as the 
People's Champion," he said. "That is what has given me strength to keep 
moving on in life."

Watson will return to the Virgin Money London Marathon this year to give 
out medals to finishers on The Mall.

More recipients of the Spirit of London award will be announced in the 
coming weeks, with all winners due to be presented with a special 
commemorative coin at an awards ceremony in May.

The coin shows Dick Beardsley and Inge Simonsen, the joint winners of the 
first London Marathon who crossed the finish line hand in hand. The coin is 
engraved with the words: To have fun and provide some happiness and a sense 
of achievement in a troubled world.

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