Former 400m Olympic Champion Sally Gunnell OBE has stepped in at the 11th hour to be guest of honour for this evening (Thursday’s) Isle of Man Sports Awards presentations.

Unfortunately fellow British Olympian, Greg Rutherford MBE, stood down late Wednesday afternoon because of what was described as a family emergency.

Sally arrived in the island early Thursday and is meeting members of the local media this morning.

The evening, sponsored by Microgaming Play it Forward, begins with a drinks reception and dinner at 7pm for the invited guests and short listed sportsmen and women.

The main awards ceremony gets under way at 8.15pm and the general public can still purchase balcony tickets from the Villa Gaiety box office.

Sally Gunnell enjoyed a phenomenally successful career where she held almost every title there is to claim within her sport - Olympic gold, world championship titles, World Cups, European championships and four consecutive European Cup victories, not to mention five Commonwealth titles.

She retired in 1997 through persistent injuries, turning her attentions to media commitments and her role as a speaker, specifically as an Olympic speaker and after dinner speaker, as well as a role as an ambassador for UK Sport.

Updates from the evening at iomtoday.co.im and on our social media @iomsportsdesk as well as next week’s editions of the Manx Independent and Isle of Man Examiner.