Eurosport spent 60 seconds with British javelin legend Steve Backley and found him mostly jovial - with the exception of one subject.

Who was your sporting hero?

I suppose I had a few - but one that was a huge inspiration for me was Emil Zatopek, the Czechoslovakian who won the 5,000m, 10,000m and marathon at the 1952 Olympics. There was a legend that he ran with a rucksack and hobnail boots to improve his stamina and strength while training. I used that story as inspiration to work incredibly hard. I was fortunate enough to meet him in 1999, a year before he died. He was an old man by then and didn’t speak much English – I just wanted to shake his hand, look him in the eye and acknowledge his greatness. You don’t need to say a lot to people like that, just thank them and look into the whites of their eyes. You can tell a lot about someone from their eyes. He was a hell of a guy.

What was the first record you bought?

(After some deep thought) I don’t even remember the records, that’s so long ago! Why can’t I answer that? Maybe it’s because my older brother used to buy everything and I’d nick his! That was standard for a younger brother. I can remember my first CD though. That was Soul II Soul’s Club Classics Volume 1. I play it now and it still sounds new and fresh.

What was your first car?

That’s much easier. It was a VW Sirocco GTI in red. I had to put the seat almost horizontal just to fit my head in because of my height. It was hilarious really. But it was GTI, that was the important thing.

What would you have done it you were not an athlete?

I was a sports science student at Loughborough 20 odd years ago, it’s a brilliant uni, a great atmosphere to this day. But that came because of athletics - I was set to study quantity surveying at Leeds Poly until that point, so that was my career path. But, if I’d not made it after Loughborough, I have to look at what my fellow students went on to do - PE teachers, recruitment, banking... the typical graduate jobs.

What was your most embarrassing moment as an athlete?

I vaguely remember one of my first big events at Crystal Palace, very early on, when I ran in to try and chuck the javelin out of the stadium - but I just hawked it on the floor, the javelin went about 2m and the stadium just went silent. Fortunately it was before video cameras appeared everywhere so there doesn’t appear to be any evidence!

Who is the top sportsperson in the world, in your view?

Usain Bolt, you have to go with him really. He’s coming to London this year to hopefully be a legend - he isn’t yet as he needs to defend his Olympic title. And there’s speculation that he’ll run the final leg in the 4x400 metres relay and, if he does that and chases down an American down the back straight - which is the likely scenario - it will be one of the all-time great moments.

Most annoying person in sport?

The drug cheats. All of them. Every single one of them get right up my nose. I can’t do names but you know who I mean.

Steve Backley was speaking at the launch of BMW Presents, a series of short films that celebrate the BMW London 2012 Performance Team and explore Ultimate Performance. To view the films, visit www.youtube.com/bmwuk

Reda Maher - @Reda_Eurosport / Eurosport