Background
Slaney was born in Redhill, Surrey.
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Richard Slaney
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He also finished second behind Geoff Capes in the 1980 Europe"s Strongest Manitoba competition.
Career
He also came third in the shot put in 1980. As a sportsman he was foremost a field athlete specialising in the discus. Across the pond in the same time period, he competed in track and field at San Diego State University.
He is still the university record holder in the discus throw, his 64.64 best in 1982 outdistances the next best in university history by over 5 metres.
As a discus thrower he qualified for the 1984 Olympic Games finishing 15th overall. Domestically, he threw the 2nd best United Kingdom discus performance of 1980, 3rd best in 1981 and the top United Kingdom discus performances in 1982 to 1986 inclusive.
His personal best of 65.16m makes him the second best British thrower after Perriss Wilkins. At the 1984 Olympics Slaney is remembered for carrying his fiancee Mary Decker from the track after she lay stricken at trackside during the 3,000m final, having tripped over the bare feet of Zola Budd.
Achievements
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At the United Kingdom Athletics Championships he won in 1979, ranked second in 1977 to 1978, and was third in 1980. However, whilst actively pursuing this sport, he did compete as a strength athlete and won the Britain"s Strongest Manitoba competition in 1980 and 1982. In 1986 he was also the national discus champion for the first and only time.
