Steven Burke


Steven James Burke, is an English track and road cyclist, who rides for the 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 medalist Bradley Wiggins.
In 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 in the 2013 New Year Honours, 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. 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.

Major results

;2005
;2006
;2007
;2008
;2009
;2011
;2012
;2013
;2014
;2015
;2016

World records

DisciplineRecordDateEventVelodrome
Team pursuit3:53.2954 April 2012World ChampionshipsHisense Arena
Team pursuit3:52.4992 August 2012Olympic GamesLee Valley
Team pursuit3:51.6593 August 2012Olympic GamesLee Valley
Team pursuit3:50.57012 August 2016Olympic GamesRio Olympic
Team pursuit3:50.26512 August 2016Olympic GamesRio Olympic