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.[6] 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.[7]
Burke was born in Burnley and lived in Colne, Lancashire during his early life, attending Park High School and later Nelson and Colne College[8][9] (which named its sports centre after him).[10] 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.[11]
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.[12]
Kilo
Team pursuit, UEC European Under-23 Championships
Team pursuit, UCI World Junior Championships Team pursuit, UEC European Under-23 Championships
Team pursuit, UCI World Junior Championships Team pursuit Scratch Team pursuit Individual pursuit, National Junior Championships Individual pursuit
Individual pursuit, Olympic Games Individual pursuit, UEC European Under-23 Championships Kilo, National Championships Team pursuit, UEC European Championships Individual pursuit, National Championships
Team pursuit, Olympic Games
Team pursuit, UCI World Championships Team pursuit, UEC European Championships Team pursuit, UCI World Championships
Team pursuit, Commonwealth Games
Team pursuit, UEC European Championships Team pursuit, Olympic Games| Discipline | Record | Date | Event | Velodrome | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team pursuit | 3:53.295 | 4 April 2012 | World Championships | Hisense Arena (Melbourne) | [13] |
| 3:52.499 | 2 August 2012 | Olympic Games | Lee Valley (London) | [14] | |
| 3:51.659 | 3 August 2012 | [15] | |||
| 3:50.570 | 12 August 2016 | Olympic Games | Rio Olympic | [16] | |
| 3:50.265 | [17] |
