Colin Jackson

Colin Ray Jackson, (born 18 February 1967) is a Welsh former sprint and hurdling athlete who specialised in the 110 metres hurdles.

During a career in which he represented Great Britain and Wales, he won an Olympic silver medal, became world champion twice, world indoor champion once, was undefeated at the European Championships for 12 years and was twice Commonwealth champion.

His world record of 12.91 seconds for the 110 m hurdles stood for over 10 years and his 60 metres hurdles world record stood for nearly 27 years.

Jackson won his first major medal, a silver, in the 110 m hurdles, aged 19 at the 1986 Commonwealth Games.

He won gold at the 1986 World Junior Championships and he soon switched to the senior ranks.

Following a silver medal in the 1986 Commonwealth Games, he won the 110m hurdles silver at the 1988 Olympic Games behind Roger Kingdom.

Although his career as an active competitor in the event would last a further fifteen years, the last ten of these as world record holder, and see him twice crowned World Champion, twice Commonwealth Champion and four times European Champion, this would remain his only Olympic medal of any colour.

He soon established himself on the global scene, taking bronze at the 1987 World Championships in Athletics and a silver medal at the 1988 Summer Olympics.

After winning another silver in the 60 m hurdles at the 1989 IAAF World Indoor Championships, he won European and Commonwealth gold medals in 1990.

In 1992 he eased through his first round heat in 13.10 s (which proved faster than the gold medal-winning time) but was restricted by an injury he picked up during the next round and could only finish seventh in the final, and in 1996 he came fourth and in 2000, fifth.

The 1993 season saw him reach the pinnacle of his sport: after a silver at the 1993 Indoor Worlds, he set a world record of 12.91 seconds to become the 1993 World Champion.

This record was unbeaten for almost 13 years and remains the world championship record.

Jackson was part of the British 4×100 metres relay team which won the world silver medal.

This period was Jackson's most successful: he had a streak of 44 races undefeated between 1993 and 1995.

He set his world record for the 110 metres hurdles on 20 August 1993, winning his first World Championships gold medal in Stuttgart, Germany in 12.91 s. The new mark (also a championship record) shaved 0.01 s off the previous record held by Kingdom and stood for nearly thirteen years, only being equalled by Liu Xiang in the 2004 Summer Olympics and finally beaten by the same man on 11 July 2006 at the Super Grand Prix in Lausanne with a time of 12.88 s. Jackson remained the sole holder of the indoor world record at the 60 metres hurdles with a time of 7.30 seconds set in Sindelfingen, Germany on 6 March 1994 until February 2021.

The aforementioned achievements coincided with one of the high points of Jackson's career: he was unbeaten between 29 August 1993 and 9 February 1995.

He won forty-four races consecutively in this period.

In addition to European and Commonwealth golds outdoors in 1994, he set another world record, running 7.30 seconds in the 60 m hurdles.

A double gold at the 1994 European Athletics Indoor Championships in the 60 m hurdles and sprint events saw him set a European record of 6.49 seconds over 60 m. Injury affected his 1995–1996 seasons and he finished only fourth at the 1996 Olympics.

At the 1994 European Indoor Championships he became a double European champion: winning in both the 60 metres hurdles and 60 metres sprint race as well.

His 60 m dash time of 6.49 s was a European record, as well as a championship record.

His winning time at the 1994 Commonwealth Games was a Commonwealth Games record.

Jackson was a master of the "dip" – the skill of leaning forward at the end of a race to advance the position of the shoulders and improve times (and potentially positions).

He was also renowned for being a particularly fast starter, which led to a great deal of success in 60m events.

He returned to competition in 1997 and took silver twice – at the Indoor World Championships and the World Outdoors.

After winning the European Championships for a third consecutive time in 1998 he became indoor and outdoor World champion in 1999.

These records remained unbeaten for 5 years, when Jason Gardener ran 6.46 s in 1999 in Maebashi, Japan.

He finished fifth at the 2000 Summer Olympics and his last major medals came in 2002, taking European indoor and outdoor gold and a Commonwealth silver.

After a period of sports management and coaching, he now works as a sports commentator for athletics and as a television presenter (predominantly for the BBC).

He is a well-known face on British television, having been on Strictly Come Dancing in 2005, as well as a number of other entertainment and factual TV programmes.

Jackson, born in Cardiff, South Wales, is of Jamaican and Panamanian descent.

A DNA test indicated his ancestry is mostly African and European with some Indigenous ancestry, suggesting descent from Jamaican Maroons and Taínos.

Genealogical research shows his mixed-race Panamanian-born mother had Scottish ancestry.

He is the brother of actress Suzanne Packer who played Tess Bateman in the BBC One hospital drama Casualty.

Jackson grew up in Birchgrove, attending Springwood Primary School and then Llanedeyrn High School.

He played football and cricket for the county and rugby union and basketball for his school and joined the athletics club Birchgrove Harriers, which nurtured his talent.

As captain of his school cricket team, he and four team-mates were invited to trials for the Welsh national cricket team: whilst his team-mates were all picked, Jackson was passed over – he attributed this to racism, and has said it resulted in him quitting the sport and focusing on athletics, as "athletics had more people that looked like me".

Jackson has also stated he felt discriminated against by British Athletics for selections and sponsorship.

He said: "I felt the discrimination was because I was Welsh more than anything else."

Under coach and close friend Malcolm Arnold, Jackson started out as a promising decathlete before switching to high hurdles.