# Steven Burke

Steven James Burke MBE (born 4 March 1988) is a former English track and road cyclist, who rode for the now disbanded Team Wiggins Le Col cycling team. 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) |
| Team pursuit | 3:52.499 | 2 August 2012 | Olympic Games | Lee Valley (London) |
| Team pursuit | 3:51.659 | 3 August 2012 | Olympic Games | Lee Valley (London) |
| Team pursuit | 3:50.570 | 12 August 2016 | Olympic Games | Rio Olympic |
| Team pursuit | 3:50.265 | 12 August 2016 | Olympic Games | Rio Olympic |