Colin Jackson
Encyclopedia
Colin Ray Jackson CBE
(born 18 February 1967) is a British former sprint
and hurdling
athlete who specialised in the 110 metres hurdles
. Over his career representing Great Britain
and Wales
he won an Olympic silver medal, became world champion three times, went undefeated at the European Championships for 12 years and was a two-time Commonwealth
champion. His world record of 12.91 seconds for the 110 m hurdles stood for over a decade, and he is also the 60 metres hurdles
world record holder.
Jackson won his first major medal, a silver in the 110 m hurdles, at the age of nineteen at the 1986 Commonwealth Games
. 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 metres hurdles
at the 1989 IAAF World Indoor Championships
, he won European and Commonwealth
gold medals in 1990. The 1993 season saw him reach the pinnacle of his sport: after a silver at the 1993 Indoor Worlds
, he went on to set a world record of 12.91 seconds to become the 1993 World Champion. This mark was unbeaten for almost thirteen years and remains the world championship record. Jackson also helped the British 4×100 metres relay team to the world silver medal.
This period was perhaps Jackson's most successful – he had a streak of 44 races undefeated between 1993 and 1995. 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 metres
. Injury affected his 1995–1996 seasons and he only finished in fourth at the 1996 Olympics. He returned to the global podium in 1997 but took silver twice – behind Anier García
at the Indoor World Championships
and Allen Johnson
in the World Outdoors
. After winning the European Championships for a third consecutive time in 1998 he became world champion indoors and out in 1999. 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 television presenter (predominantly for the BBC
) and appeared in Strictly Come Dancing
in 2005.
, Wales
, is of Jamaica
n, Maroon
, Taino
, and Scottish
ancestry. He attended Birchgrove Primary School and then Llanedeyrn High School playing football
and cricket
for the county and rugby union
and basketball
for his school.
Under coach and close friend Malcolm Arnold
, he started out as a promising decathlete
before switching to high hurdles. He won the 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. In 1992
he was restricted by a minor injury and could only finish 7th, and in 1996
he came fourth and in 2000, fifth.
He set his world record for the 110 metres hurdles
on the 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. However, Jackson remains 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. 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. These records remained unbettered for 5 years, when Jason Gardener
ran 6.46 s in 1999 in Maebashi, Japan
.
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. 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. Jackson's technical hurdling ability distinguished him from his peers whether they were faster than him or not.
He was the subject of controversy in 1998 when he decided to run for cash in Tokyo, Japan, rather than compete in the Commonwealth Games
for Wales.
Six years after his first world title, Jackson regained his 110m hurdles crown at the 1999 Seville World Championships
. This was to be his last gold medal at the very highest level, but he added a final, fourth successive European Championships gold in the 2002 Munich European Championships
, extending an unbroken reign as European Champion stretching back to 1990.
Whilst commonly linked to Linford Christie, Colin is also believed to have been the originator of the quote "I started at the B of the Bang".
Jackson has been a coach, in athletics and other areas. He coached his close friend the swimmer Mark Foster
until Foster's retirement in April 2006. , he has coached two of Great Britain's top Olympic prospects, 400m runner Timothy Benjamin
and 400m hurdler Rhys Williams. He was also one of the members of the successful London 2012 Olympic bid team and is a key member of the BBC
's televisions athletics coverage. However, he started his broadcasting career in 2004 by co-hosting, with Sally Gunnell
, the BBC reality TV programme Born to Win.
Already the holder of the MBE
that he received in 1990 for his services to athletics, in 1992 he was promoted CBE
.
The English reggae
band Aswad name-checked him on their 1994 hit song Shine: Him a floating like a butterfly, the hurdling man - Yes, me-a-chat about Colin Jackson.
Jackson has written three books, the first, The Young Track and Field Athlete, which was published in March 1996, by Dorling Kindersley
, his second, Colin Jackson: The Autobiography, which was published in April 2004 by BBC Books
and his last, Life's New Hurdles, which was published in March 2008 by Accent Press Ltd as part of the Quick Read Initiative.
Colin Jackson: The Autobiography was publshed in 2003 by BBC Books.
After retiring from athletics, he became the face of BBC Raise Your Game with Colin Jackson in which he interviews high profile, international stars to talk about the importance of learning. Stars such as Luol Deng, Jenson Button, the stars of Strictly Come Dancing and Davina McCall to name but a few.
He is Director of multimedia production company Red Shoes, along with fellow Director and former BBC Exec Producer Richard Owen. Their clients include the IAAF and UEFA
.
Colin Jackson took part in an episode of the BBC
TV genealogy series Who Do You Think You Are?, broadcast in the UK on 20 September 2006. Of Jamaican descent, genetic tests showed his ancestry to be 55% African, 7% Native American (believed to be from Jamaican Maroon
Ancestry on his father's side), and 38% European. His mother was born in Panama
, the daughter of Richard Augustus Packer and Gladys McGowan Campbell. Gladys Campbell was from Jamaica
, the daughter of a Scottish man Duncan Campbell and his housemaid Albertina Wallace.
In March 2007 Jackson starred as the 'hidden celebrity' in an episode of the award winning CBBC
gameshow Hider in the House
, hosted by JK and Joel
.
In March 2008, an interview with The Voice
newspaper, Jackson denied claims that he is gay, adding that he believed the stigma surrounding gay athletes to be a thing of the past.
In 2008, Jackson co-hosted with Louise Minchin
, the Sunday morning show Sunday Life on BBC One
.
Colin Jackson appeared in the BBC One documentary The Making of Me on July 31, 2008 in attempt to find out what had made him such a talented athlete. A sample of his leg muscle showed that he had 25% super fast twitch fibres, when all previous athletes tested had only 2%. Family support was also thought to have been highly significant. Jamaicans are notable for the high level of support and encouragement they give their children in the area of sports. A notable clip showed a stadium in Jamaica
with 30,000 people cheering on children taking part in an average school sports meet. This included their peers, who seemed happy to cheer on their class mates who were 'good at sports'. Although Colin was brought up in the UK, he remembers his parents cheering on Don Quarrie
in the 1976 Olympics, inspiring him to want to 'be like that'.
In 2009 Colin shared his writing tips on the adult learning website BBC raw words. He features in a comedy short with Nina Wadia
, Rowland Rivron
and Anneka Rice about structuring a story and also shares his writing tips gained from writing Life's New Hurdles.
In July 2010, Jackson entered the BBC
television programme Celebrity MasterChef.
He is the brother of actress Suzanne Packer
who plays Tess Bateman in the BBC One
hospital drama Casualty
.
Colin Jackson is also Zeitz Foundation
Specialist for Culture.
TV series Strictly Come Dancing
, where he came second with his dance partner Erin Boag
, just losing out to cricketer Darren Gough
. In 2006 Jackson became the first competitor who hadn't won the main series to win the Strictly Come Dancing
Christmas special.
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(born 18 February 1967) is a British former sprint
Sprint (race)
Sprints are short running events in athletics and track and field. Races over short distances are among the oldest running competitions. The first 13 editions of the Ancient Olympic Games featured only one event—the stadion race, which was a race from one end of the stadium to the other...
and hurdling
Hurdling
Hurdling is a type of track and field race.- Distances :There are sprint hurdle races and long hurdle races. The standard sprint hurdle race is 110 meters for men and 100 meters for women. The standard long hurdle race is 400 meters for both men and women...
athlete who specialised in the 110 metres hurdles
110 metres hurdles
The 110 metres hurdles is a hurdling track and field event for men. It is incuded in the athletics programme at the Summer Olympic Games. The female counterpart is the 100 metre hurdles. As part of a racing event, ten hurdles of 1.067 metres in height are evenly spaced along a straight...
. Over his career representing Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
and Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
he won an Olympic silver medal, became world champion three times, went undefeated at the European Championships for 12 years and was a two-time Commonwealth
Commonwealth Games
The Commonwealth Games is an international, multi-sport event involving athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930 and takes place every four years....
champion. His world record of 12.91 seconds for the 110 m hurdles stood for over a decade, and he is also the 60 metres hurdles
60 metres hurdles
60 metres hurdles is a distance in hurdling which is generally run in indoor competitions. It is equivalent with the first 60 metres including the first 5 hurdles of a standard outdoor hurdle race. The current women's and men's world records are 7.68 seconds and 7.30 seconds ,...
world record holder.
Jackson won his first major medal, a silver in the 110 m hurdles, at the age of nineteen at the 1986 Commonwealth Games
Athletics at the 1986 Commonwealth Games
At the 1986 Commonwealth Games, the athletics events were held at the Meadowbank Stadium in Edinburgh, Scotland. A total of 41 events were contested, of which 23 by male and 18 by female athletes....
. He soon established himself on the global scene, taking bronze at the 1987 World Championships in Athletics
1987 World Championships in Athletics
The 2nd World Championships in Athletics under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations were held in the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, Italy between August 28 and September 6, 1987.-Track:1983 | 1987 | 1991 | 1993 | 1995...
and a silver medal at the 1988 Summer Olympics. After winning another silver in the 60 metres hurdles
60 metres hurdles
60 metres hurdles is a distance in hurdling which is generally run in indoor competitions. It is equivalent with the first 60 metres including the first 5 hurdles of a standard outdoor hurdle race. The current women's and men's world records are 7.68 seconds and 7.30 seconds ,...
at the 1989 IAAF World Indoor Championships
1989 IAAF World Indoor Championships
The 2nd IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics were held at the Budapest Sportcsarnok in Budapest, Hungary from March 3 to March 5, 1989. There were a total number of 373 participating athletes from 62 countries.-Men:1985 | 1987 | 1989 | 1991 | 1993...
, he won European and Commonwealth
1990 Commonwealth Games
The 1990 Commonwealth Games were held in Auckland, New Zealand from 24 January-3 February 1990. It was the 14th Commonwealth Games, and part of New Zealand's 1990 sesquicentennial celebrations. Participants competed in ten sports: athletics, aquatics, badminton, boxing, cycling, gymnastics, judo,...
gold medals in 1990. The 1993 season saw him reach the pinnacle of his sport: after a silver at the 1993 Indoor Worlds
1993 IAAF World Indoor Championships
The 4th IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics were held at the Skydome in Toronto, Canada from March 12 to March 14, 1993. It was the last Indoor Championships to feature the 5,000 and 3,000 metres race walk events. In addition, it was the first Indoor Championships to include heptathlon and...
, he went on to set a world record of 12.91 seconds to become the 1993 World Champion. This mark was unbeaten for almost thirteen years and remains the world championship record. Jackson also helped the British 4×100 metres relay team to the world silver medal.
This period was perhaps Jackson's most successful – he had a streak of 44 races undefeated between 1993 and 1995. 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 metres
60 metres
60 metres is a sprint event in track and field athletics. It is a championship event for indoor championships, normally dominated by the best outdoor 100 metres runners. At outdoor venues it is a rare distance, at least for senior athletes...
. Injury affected his 1995–1996 seasons and he only finished in fourth at the 1996 Olympics. He returned to the global podium in 1997 but took silver twice – behind Anier García
Anier García
Anier Octavio García Ortiz is a Cuban athlete, winner of the 110 m hurdles at the 2000 Summer Olympics.Born in Santiago de Cuba, Anier García established his credentials early, by winning the 1995 Pan American Junior Championships...
at the Indoor World Championships
1997 IAAF World Indoor Championships
The 6th IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics were held at the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy in Paris, France from March 7 to March 9, 1997. It was the first athletic championships to introduce women's pole vault...
and Allen Johnson
Allen Johnson
Allen Kenneth Johnson is a retired hurdling athlete and won Olympic Gold in the 110 metre high hurdles at the 1996 games in Atlanta, Georgia....
in the World Outdoors
1997 World Championships in Athletics
The 6th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held at the Olympic Stadium, Athens, Greece between August 1 and August 10, 1997. In this event participated 1882 athletes from 198 participant nations...
. After winning the European Championships for a third consecutive time in 1998 he became world champion indoors and out in 1999. He finished fifth at the 2000 Summer Olympics
2000 Summer Olympics
The Sydney 2000 Summer Olympic Games or the Millennium Games/Games of the New Millennium, officially known as the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was celebrated between 15 September and 1 October 2000 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...
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
Sportscaster
In sports broadcasting, a commentator gives a running commentary of a game or event in real time, usually during a live broadcast. The comments are normally a voiceover, with the sounds of the action and spectators also heard in the background. In the case of television commentary, the commentator...
for athletics and television presenter (predominantly for the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
) and appeared in Strictly Come Dancing
Strictly Come Dancing (series 3)
The third series of Strictly Come Dancing started on 15 October 2005 and ended on 17 December 2005. It was presented by Bruce Forsyth and Tess Daly, and the winner was Darren Gough along with his dancing partner Lilia Kopylova.-The show:...
in 2005.
Athletics career
Jackson, born in CardiffCardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
, Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
, is of Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
n, Maroon
Jamaican Maroons
The 'Jamaican Maroons are descended from slaves who escaped from slavery and established free communities in the mountainous interior of Jamaica during the long era of slavery in the island. African slaves imported during the Spanish period may have provided the first runaways, apparently mixing...
, Taino
Taíno people
The Taínos were pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Bahamas, Greater Antilles, and the northern Lesser Antilles. It is thought that the seafaring Taínos are relatives of the Arawak people of South America...
, and Scottish
Scottish people
The Scottish people , or Scots, are a nation and ethnic group native to Scotland. Historically they emerged from an amalgamation of the Picts and Gaels, incorporating neighbouring Britons to the south as well as invading Germanic peoples such as the Anglo-Saxons and the Norse.In modern use,...
ancestry. He attended Birchgrove Primary School and then Llanedeyrn High School playing football
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
and cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
for the county and rugby union
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
and basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
for his school.
Under coach and close friend Malcolm Arnold
Malcolm Arnold (athletics coach)
Malcolm Arnold is an Athletics coach working for UK Athletics and its predecessors since 1974. Currently, he is the National Event Coach for Hurdles and Senior Performance Coach for UK Athletics. He has attended every Olympic Games since Mexico City in 1968, 11 in all, as a coach to National Teams...
, he started out as a promising decathlete
Decathlon
The decathlon is a combined event in athletics consisting of ten track and field events. The word decathlon is of Greek origin . Events are held over two consecutive days and the winners are determined by the combined performance in all. Performance is judged on a points system in each event, not...
before switching to high hurdles. He won the gold at the 1986 World Junior Championships
1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics
The 1st World Junior Championships in Athletics was the 1986 version of the World Junior Championships in Athletics. It was held in Athens, Greece.-Men:-Women:-Medals table:-External links:* at GBRathletics.com...
and he soon switched to the senior ranks. Following a silver medal in the 1986 Commonwealth Games
1986 Commonwealth Games
The 1986 Commonwealth Games were held in Edinburgh, Scotland for the second time. The Games were held from 24 July-2 August 1986.-Organisation and Controversy:...
, he won the 110m hurdles silver at the 1988 Olympic Games
1988 Summer Olympics
The 1988 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad, were an all international multi-sport events celebrated from September 17 to October 2, 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. They were the second summer Olympic Games to be held in Asia and the first since the 1964 Summer Olympics...
behind Roger Kingdom
Roger Kingdom
Roger Kingdom is a former sprint hurdler from the United States.Born in Vienna, Georgia, an athlete of note Roger excelled at the high jump and discus in his formative years as well as being a noteworthy American football player...
. 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. In 1992
Athletics at the 1992 Summer Olympics - Men's 110 metre hurdles
These are the official results of the Men's 110 metres hurdles at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain.-Medalists:-Records:These were the standing world and Olympic records prior to the 1992 Summer Olympics.-Final:...
he was restricted by a minor injury and could only finish 7th, and in 1996
Athletics at the 1996 Summer Olympics - Men's 110 metre hurdles
These are the official results of the men's 110 metres hurdles at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. The final was held on July 29, 1996.-Medalists:-Records:...
he came fourth and in 2000, fifth.
He set his world record for the 110 metres hurdles
110 metres hurdles
The 110 metres hurdles is a hurdling track and field event for men. It is incuded in the athletics programme at the Summer Olympic Games. The female counterpart is the 100 metre hurdles. As part of a racing event, ten hurdles of 1.067 metres in height are evenly spaced along a straight...
on the 20 August 1993, winning his first World Championships gold medal in Stuttgart
Stuttgart
Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....
, 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
Liu Xiang
Liu Xiang is a Chinese 110 meter hurdler. Liu is an Olympic Gold medalist and World Champion. His 2004 Olympic gold medal was the first in a men's track and field event for China....
in the 2004 Summer Olympics
2004 Summer Olympics
The 2004 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad, was a premier international multi-sport event held in Athens, Greece from August 13 to August 29, 2004 with the motto Welcome Home. 10,625 athletes competed, some 600 more than expected, accompanied by 5,501 team...
and finally beaten by the same man on 11 July 2006 at the Super Grand Prix in Lausanne
Lausanne
Lausanne is a city in Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland, and is the capital of the canton of Vaud. The seat of the district of Lausanne, the city is situated on the shores of Lake Geneva . It faces the French town of Évian-les-Bains, with the Jura mountains to its north-west...
with a time of 12.88 s. However, Jackson remains sole holder of the indoor world record at the 60 metres hurdles
60 metres hurdles
60 metres hurdles is a distance in hurdling which is generally run in indoor competitions. It is equivalent with the first 60 metres including the first 5 hurdles of a standard outdoor hurdle race. The current women's and men's world records are 7.68 seconds and 7.30 seconds ,...
with a time of 7.30 seconds set in Sindelfingen
Sindelfingen
Sindelfingen is a German town near Stuttgart at the headwaters of the Schwippe that is the site of a Mercedes-Benz assembly plant.-History:* 1155 First documented mention of Sindelfingen...
, Germany on 6 March 1994. At the 1994 European Indoor Championships he became a double European champion: winning in both the 60 metres hurdles and 60 metres sprint
60 metres
60 metres is a sprint event in track and field athletics. It is a championship event for indoor championships, normally dominated by the best outdoor 100 metres runners. At outdoor venues it is a rare distance, at least for senior athletes...
race as well. His 60 m dash time of 6.49 s was a European record, as well as a championship record. These records remained unbettered for 5 years, when Jason Gardener
Jason Gardener
Jason Carl Gardener is a retired British sprint athlete, and former World Indoor Champion. Gardener was educated at Beechen Cliff School and the City of Bath College, and went on to graduate from Bath Spa University.-Athletics career:Gardener started his career at the World Junior Championships in...
ran 6.46 s in 1999 in Maebashi, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
.
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. His winning time at the 1994 Commonwealth Games
1994 Commonwealth Games
The 1994 Commonwealth Games were held in Victoria, in the province of British Columbia in Canada, from 18 August to 28 August 1994.The XV Commonwealth Games marked South Africa's return to the Commonwealth Games following the apartheid era, and over 30 years since the country last competed in the...
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. Jackson's technical hurdling ability distinguished him from his peers whether they were faster than him or not.
He was the subject of controversy in 1998 when he decided to run for cash in Tokyo, Japan, rather than compete in the Commonwealth Games
1998 Commonwealth Games
The 1998 XVI Commonwealth Games were held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from 11 September to 21 September 1998 making it the first Asian country to act as host and the last Commonwealth Games for the 20th century. A record 70 nations supplied 3638 athletes...
for Wales.
Six years after his first world title, Jackson regained his 110m hurdles crown at the 1999 Seville World Championships
1999 World Championships in Athletics
The 7th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held at the Estadio Olímpico, Seville, Spain, between the August 20 and August 29....
. This was to be his last gold medal at the very highest level, but he added a final, fourth successive European Championships gold in the 2002 Munich European Championships
2002 European Championships in Athletics
The 18th European Athletics Championships were held from 6 August to 11 August 2002 in the Olympic Stadium of Munich, Germany.-Track:1994 |1998 |2002 |2006 |2010 |...
, extending an unbroken reign as European Champion stretching back to 1990.
Whilst commonly linked to Linford Christie, Colin is also believed to have been the originator of the quote "I started at the B of the Bang".
Post retirement career
Since ending his professional career at the 2003 World Indoor Championships2003 IAAF World Indoor Championships
The 9th IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics were held in the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham, UK from 14 March to 16 March 2003. It was the first time the Championships had been held in the UK...
Jackson has been a coach, in athletics and other areas. He coached his close friend the swimmer Mark Foster
Mark Foster (swimmer)
Mark Andrew Foster is a British professional swimmer, specialising in butterfly and freestyle at 50 metres....
until Foster's retirement in April 2006. , he has coached two of Great Britain's top Olympic prospects, 400m runner Timothy Benjamin
Timothy Benjamin
Timothy David Benjamin is a former professional athlete from Wales. He specialised in the 400 metres, and in his teens was coached by Jock Anderson, in the same training group as Christian Malcolm...
and 400m hurdler Rhys Williams. He was also one of the members of the successful London 2012 Olympic bid team and is a key member of the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
's televisions athletics coverage. However, he started his broadcasting career in 2004 by co-hosting, with Sally Gunnell
Sally Gunnell
Sally Jane Janet Gunnell OBE is a former British Olympic champion in the 400 m hurdles...
, the BBC reality TV programme Born to Win.
Already the holder of the MBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
that he received in 1990 for his services to athletics, in 1992 he was promoted CBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
.
The English reggae
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
band Aswad name-checked him on their 1994 hit song Shine: Him a floating like a butterfly, the hurdling man - Yes, me-a-chat about Colin Jackson.
Jackson has written three books, the first, The Young Track and Field Athlete, which was published in March 1996, by Dorling Kindersley
Dorling Kindersley
Dorling Kindersley is an international publishing company specializing in illustrated reference books for adults and children in 51 languages. It is currently part of the Penguin Group....
, his second, Colin Jackson: The Autobiography, which was published in April 2004 by BBC Books
BBC Books
BBC Books is an imprint majority owned and managed by Random House. The minority shareholder is BBC Worldwide, the commercial subsidiary of the British Broadcasting Corporation...
and his last, Life's New Hurdles, which was published in March 2008 by Accent Press Ltd as part of the Quick Read Initiative.
Colin Jackson: The Autobiography was publshed in 2003 by BBC Books.
After retiring from athletics, he became the face of BBC Raise Your Game with Colin Jackson in which he interviews high profile, international stars to talk about the importance of learning. Stars such as Luol Deng, Jenson Button, the stars of Strictly Come Dancing and Davina McCall to name but a few.
He is Director of multimedia production company Red Shoes, along with fellow Director and former BBC Exec Producer Richard Owen. Their clients include the IAAF and UEFA
UEFA
The Union of European Football Associations , almost always referred to by its acronym UEFA is the administrative and controlling body for European association football, futsal and beach soccer....
.
Colin Jackson took part in an episode of the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
TV genealogy series Who Do You Think You Are?, broadcast in the UK on 20 September 2006. Of Jamaican descent, genetic tests showed his ancestry to be 55% African, 7% Native American (believed to be from Jamaican Maroon
Jamaican Maroons
The 'Jamaican Maroons are descended from slaves who escaped from slavery and established free communities in the mountainous interior of Jamaica during the long era of slavery in the island. African slaves imported during the Spanish period may have provided the first runaways, apparently mixing...
Ancestry on his father's side), and 38% European. His mother was born in Panama
Panama
Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...
, the daughter of Richard Augustus Packer and Gladys McGowan Campbell. Gladys Campbell was from Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
, the daughter of a Scottish man Duncan Campbell and his housemaid Albertina Wallace.
In March 2007 Jackson starred as the 'hidden celebrity' in an episode of the award winning CBBC
CBBC
CBBC is one of two brand names used for the BBC's children's television strands. Between 1985 and 2002, CBBC was the name given to all the BBC's programmes on TV for children aged under 14...
gameshow Hider in the House
Hider in the House
Hider in the House was a British children's game show presented by Jason King and Joel Ross . In the programme, a celebrity had to be hidden in a family's house by three children and a parent. If the family have fewer than three children, they use friends or related children to make up the numbers...
, hosted by JK and Joel
JK and Joel
Jason King and Joel Ross , known professionally as JK and Joel, are a radio show presenters and are best known for hosting the official UK chart on BBC Radio 1 between 2004 and 2007 and then presented on Virgin Radio UK, from 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. at weekends and covering the breakfast and...
.
In March 2008, an interview with The Voice
The Voice (newspaper)
The Voice is a British national weekly tabloid newspaper owned by the Jamaican publisher, GV Media Group, aimed at the British Afro-Caribbean community. The paper is based in the London Docklands and is published every Monday.-History:...
newspaper, Jackson denied claims that he is gay, adding that he believed the stigma surrounding gay athletes to be a thing of the past.
In 2008, Jackson co-hosted with Louise Minchin
Louise Minchin
Louise Minchin is an English journalist and presenter. She is currently a regular presenter on the BBC News channel, as well as being the main relief presenter for the BBC News at One and BBC Breakfast and a guest presenter on The One Show.-Early life:Born Louise Grayson in 1968 in Hong Kong , to...
, the Sunday morning show Sunday Life on BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
.
Colin Jackson appeared in the BBC One documentary The Making of Me on July 31, 2008 in attempt to find out what had made him such a talented athlete. A sample of his leg muscle showed that he had 25% super fast twitch fibres, when all previous athletes tested had only 2%. Family support was also thought to have been highly significant. Jamaicans are notable for the high level of support and encouragement they give their children in the area of sports. A notable clip showed a stadium in Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
with 30,000 people cheering on children taking part in an average school sports meet. This included their peers, who seemed happy to cheer on their class mates who were 'good at sports'. Although Colin was brought up in the UK, he remembers his parents cheering on Don Quarrie
Don Quarrie
Donald O'Riley Quarrie C.D is a former Jamaican athlete, one of the world's top sprinters during the 1970s....
in the 1976 Olympics, inspiring him to want to 'be like that'.
In 2009 Colin shared his writing tips on the adult learning website BBC raw words. He features in a comedy short with Nina Wadia
Nina Wadia
-Television and film:Wadia first came to prominence in BBC sketch show Goodness Gracious Me, playing characters such as Mrs "I can make it at home for nothing!" and one half of The Competitive Mothers...
, Rowland Rivron
Rowland Rivron
Rowland J. Rivron is a British comedian, musician, writer and television presenter.-Early life: Rivron was brought up in Hillingdon, West London and attended Abbotsfield Secondary School...
and Anneka Rice about structuring a story and also shares his writing tips gained from writing Life's New Hurdles.
In July 2010, Jackson entered the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
television programme Celebrity MasterChef.
He is the brother of actress Suzanne Packer
Suzanne Packer
Birth Name: Suzanne JacksonBirth Date: June 20th 1958Birth Place: Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, Wales.Suzanne Packer is the stage name of a Welsh actress who is best known for playing the role of Tess Bateman in the long running television series, Casualty...
who plays Tess Bateman in the BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
hospital drama Casualty
Casualty (TV series)
Casualty, stylised as Casual+y, is a British weekly television show broadcast on BBC One, and the longest-running emergency medical drama television series in the world. Created by Jeremy Brock and Paul Unwin, it was first broadcast on 6 September 1986, and transmitted in the UK on BBC One. The...
.
Colin Jackson is also Zeitz Foundation
Zeitz Foundation
The Zeitz Foundation is a non-profit organization registered in Germany and headquartered in Kenya with representation in the United States and the United Kingdom...
Specialist for Culture.
Performance on Strictly Come Dancing
In 2005 he appeared as one of the celebrity contestants on the BBCBBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
TV series Strictly Come Dancing
Strictly Come Dancing
Strictly Come Dancing is a British television show, featuring celebrities with professional dance partners competing in Ballroom and Latin dances. The title of the show suggests a continuation of the long-running series Come Dancing, with an allusion to the film Strictly Ballroom...
, where he came second with his dance partner Erin Boag
Erin Boag
Erin Boag is a professional ballroom dancer. She has danced from the age of three, originally starting ballet and later moving into ballroom, Latin and jazz...
, just losing out to cricketer Darren Gough
Darren Gough
Darren Gough is a retired English cricketer and former captain of Yorkshire County Cricket Club. The spearhead of England's bowling attack through much of the 1990s, he is England's highest wicket-taker in one-day internationals with 234, and took 229 wickets in his 58 Test matches, making him...
. In 2006 Jackson became the first competitor who hadn't won the main series to win the Strictly Come Dancing
Strictly Come Dancing
Strictly Come Dancing is a British television show, featuring celebrities with professional dance partners competing in Ballroom and Latin dances. The title of the show suggests a continuation of the long-running series Come Dancing, with an allusion to the film Strictly Ballroom...
Christmas special.
| Week | Dance | Judges' score | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Craig Revel Horwood Craig Revel Horwood Craig Revel Horwood is an Australian-British dancer, choreographer, and theatre director in the United Kingdom.-Biography:... |
Arlene Phillips Arlene Phillips Arlene Phillips OBE is an English choreographer, theatre director, talent scout, TV presenter, TV judge and former dancer, who has worked in many fields of entertainment... |
Len Goodman Len Goodman Leonard Gordon 'Len' Goodman is a British professional ballroom dancer, dance judge, and coach. He is a leading personality on television dance programmes such as Strictly Come Dancing and Dancing with the Stars and runs a ballroom dance school in Dartford, Kent.-Early life and career:Goodman was... |
Bruno Tonioli Bruno Tonioli Bruno Tonioli is an Italian choreographer and TV personality who appears as a judge on the television dance competition Strictly Come Dancing for BBC TV in the UK, and its American adaptation Dancing with the Stars on ABC TV in the US, Tonioli co-created and appeared on the BBC talent show DanceX... |
Total | ||
| 1 | Cha-Cha-Cha Cha-cha-cha (dance) The Cha-cha-cha is the name of a dance of Cuban origin.It is danced to the music of the same name introduced by Cuban composer and violinist Enrique Jorrín in 1953... |
8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 32 |
| 2 | Quickstep Quickstep The quickstep is a light-hearted member of the standard ballroom dances. The movement of the dance is fast and powerfully flowing and sprinkled with syncopations. The upbeat melodies that quickstep is danced to make it suitable for both formal and informal events... |
9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 36 |
| 3 | Tango Tango (dance) Tango dance originated in the area of the Rio de la Plata , and spread to the rest of the world soon after.... |
7 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 26 |
| 4 | Paso Doble | 8 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 31 |
| 5 | Samba | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 32 |
| 6 | Foxtrot | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 32 |
| 7 | Viennese Waltz Viennese Waltz Viennese Waltz is the genre of a ballroom dance. At least three different meanings are recognized. In the historically first sense, the name may refer to several versions of the waltz, including the earliest waltzes done in ballroom dancing, danced to the music of Viennese Waltz.What is now called... |
9 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 34 |
| 8 | Rumba Rumba (dance) Rumba is a dance term with two quite different meanings.In some contexts, "rumba" is used as shorthand for Afro-Cuban rumba, a group of dances related to the rumba genre of Afro-Cuban music. The most common Afro-Cuban rumba is the guaguancó... American Smooth |
9 9 |
9 10 |
9 9 |
9 9 |
36 37 |
| 9 | Waltz Waltz The waltz is a ballroom and folk dance in time, performed primarily in closed position.- History :There are several references to a sliding or gliding dance,- a waltz, from the 16th century including the representations of the printer H.S. Beheim... Jive Jive (dance) In Ballroom dancing, Jive is a dance style in 4/4 time that originated in the United States from African-Americans in the early 1930s. It was originally presented to the public as 'Jive' in 1934 by Cab Calloway. It is a lively and uninhibited variation of the Jitterbug, a form of Swing dance... |
9 7 |
9 7 |
10 8 |
9 8 |
37 30 |
| 10 | Quickstep Quickstep The quickstep is a light-hearted member of the standard ballroom dances. The movement of the dance is fast and powerfully flowing and sprinkled with syncopations. The upbeat melodies that quickstep is danced to make it suitable for both formal and informal events... Rumba Rumba (dance) Rumba is a dance term with two quite different meanings.In some contexts, "rumba" is used as shorthand for Afro-Cuban rumba, a group of dances related to the rumba genre of Afro-Cuban music. The most common Afro-Cuban rumba is the guaguancó... |
9 9 |
10 9 |
10 9 |
10 9 |
39 36 |
| Christmas Special 2005 | Cha-Cha-Cha Cha-cha-cha (dance) The Cha-cha-cha is the name of a dance of Cuban origin.It is danced to the music of the same name introduced by Cuban composer and violinist Enrique Jorrín in 1953... |
9 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 35 |
| Christmas Special 2006 | Quickstep Quickstep The quickstep is a light-hearted member of the standard ballroom dances. The movement of the dance is fast and powerfully flowing and sprinkled with syncopations. The upbeat melodies that quickstep is danced to make it suitable for both formal and informal events... |
10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 40 |
External links
- Biography of Colin Jackson on www.olympics.org.uk
- Colin Jackson, athlete and Quick Read author, gives his tips on story writing BBC raw words
- BBC Raise Your Game with Colin Jackson
- Colin Jackson - athlete from Cardiff, BBC
- Colin Jackson on Who Do You Think You Are? (programme page)
- Biography of Colin Jackson on Sunday Life (programme page)
- Speaker profile of Colin Jackson
- Agent's biography