Kriss Akabusi MBE: Finding Meaning in Movement during and after Elite Sport

I was honoured to discuss with Kriss Akabusi his outstanding athletic career and meaning he has found from sport, both as an elite athlete and after athletic retirement. Kriss achieved three Olympic medals, as well as World, European and Commonwealth titles in his outstanding career as a sprint and hurdling athlete.

Very interestingly for our Meaningful Sport podcast, Kriss is drawn to existential philosophy and how it can help us in making sense of our lives and our sport.

In the first part of our discussion, Kriss shared some stories from his elite athletic career and boundary situations in that journey, and we discussed the tough world of elite sport.

Why was Kriss drawn to sport? Would he do sport “for nothing”? Were there ‘boundary situations’ in his elite athletic career that forced him to rethink the way he engaged with sport?

Part 1 here:

In the second part, we moved to explore the meaning of sport in his life after the elite athletic career, and discuss the spiritual dimension of sport.

Part 2 here:

Quotes from the podcast:

“When you run, when you do any activity, it is an opportunity to get out of the self, and connect with the universe… I sense a connection with the world, whether it is the trees, the leaves, the ground, the feet, the wind in my face…”

“There are moments when you are running, and you just literally lose time.. and you are lost in space, you are lost in the ambiance.”

We also explore existential philosophy, especially the works of Heidegger and Nietzsche, and how these thinkers have inspired Kriss and his way of thinking and living his life in and outside of sport.

“Actually, I didn’t ask to be here, and yet I am here. I was thrown into this time and place, and I have to get on with this thing called life… And we are always living towards this thing called death. And between these two things I need to figure out who I am and who I want to become.”

You can follow Kriss on Twitter at @KrissAkabusi and @AkabusiCompany and find out more about him and his work at www.akabusi.com.