Bob Champion was born on June 4, 1948 in Guisborough, England. As a small boy he preferred driving tractors to riding horses, but after developing a passion for hunting, he won his first point-to-point race at the age of 15.
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After becoming a professional jockey at the age of 19, Champion embarked on a successful career, winning more than 350 races by the time he turned 30. At the age of 31 in 1979, at the peak of his career, Bob Champion was diagnosed with testicular cancer that had spread to his lymph nodes.
He was given just eight months to live. After undergoing revolutionary chemotherapy treatment, the jockey made an astonishing recovery, returning to the saddle in time to ride in the 1981 Grand National.
Riding Aldaniti at Aintree, Champion produced arguably the greatest fairytale performance in the history of sport to win the Grand National in 1981, touching the hearts of fans all around the world.
Champion and Aladanitin won the BBC Sports Personality Team of the Year Award in 1981 in recognition of their amazing achievement.
HM The Queen awarded Champion an MBE in the 1982 New Year’s Honours List. In 1983 he set up the Bob Champion Cancer Trust, which has since raised millions of pounds for cancer research.