Colin Ray Jackson, CBE (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,[2] 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 12.91seconds for the 110 m hurdles stood for over 10 years and his 60 metres hurdles world record stood for nearly 27 years.[3]
This period was 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 7.30seconds in the 60m hurdles. A double gold at the 1994 European Athletics Indoor Championships in the 60m hurdles and sprint events saw him set a European record of 6.49seconds over 60 m. Injury affected his 1995–1996 seasons and he finished only fourth at the 1996 Olympics. 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. 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.
Early life
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.[4] 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".[5] 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."[6]
Athletics career
Under coach and close friend Malcolm Arnold, Jackson started out as a promising decathlete before switching to high hurdles. 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. 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 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.[7] 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.[citation needed]
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.
Post-retirement career
Jackson at the 2007 Highland Games
Since ending his athletics career at the 2003 World Indoor Championships[8] Jackson has been involved in numerous endeavours, in athletics and other areas. He coached his close friend the swimmer Mark Foster until Foster's retirement in April 2016. He has coached two of Wales best 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 2000 he was promoted to OBE and then in 2003 to a CBE.[9][10]
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.[citation needed]
Jackson has written three books: the first, The Young Track and Field Athlete, was published in March 1996 by Dorling Kindersley;[11] his second, Colin Jackson: The Autobiography, was published in April 2004 by BBC Books;[12] and his last, Life's New Hurdles, was published in March 2008 by Accent Press Ltd as part of the Quick Reads Initiative.[13]
After retiring from athletics, he became the face of BBC Raise Your Game with Colin Jackson in which he talked to high-profile international stars about the importance of learning. Participants included Luol Deng, Jenson Button, Davina McCall, and stars from Strictly Come Dancing, to name but a few.
His work as a BBC athletics commentator and pundit began with the 2004 Athens Olympics. Since then he has been a regular member of the BBC team covering athletics events.[20]
He is a Director of multimedia production company Red Shoes, along with fellow Director and former BBC Executive Producer Richard Owen. Their clients include the IAAF and UEFA.
Jackson at a charity event in 2005
Jackson, who is of Jamaican descent, was the subject of an episode of the BBC TV genealogy series Who Do You Think You Are?,[21] broadcast in the UK on 20 September 2006. 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.[22]
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.
Colin Jackson appeared in the BBC One documentary The Making of Me on 31 July 2008, which attempted to find out what had made him such a talented athlete.[24] 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[according to whom?] for the high level of support and encouragement they give their children in the area of sports. One clip showed a stadium in Jamaica with 30,000 people cheering on children taking part in an average school sports meet. Supporters included their peers, who seemed happy to cheer on their classmates who were 'good at sports'. Although Jackson 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'.[citation needed]
In 2009 Jackson 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.[citation needed]
In 2012 Jackson made a cameo appearance as himself in an episode of the UK TV comedy drama Stella. In 2015, he starred in the historical experience 24 Hours in the Past.
In February 2019 Jackson was inaugurated as a Chancellor of Wrexham Glyndwr University, after being awarded with an Honorary Fellowship in 2016 for his contribution to sport.[25]
Strictly Come Dancing
In 2005, he appeared as one of the celebrity contestants on the BBC TV series Strictly Come Dancing, where he came second with his dance partner Erin Boag, just losing out to cricketer Darren Gough.[26] In 2006 Jackson became the first competitor who had not won the main series to win the Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special.
Jackson CBE joined Sport4Kids (S4K) as their International Director and Brand Ambassador.[30][31]
Jackson holds special responsibilities for developing the S4K brand and help the mission to transform children's sport across the UK and international markets through the company's franchise network.[citation needed]
Iaith ar Daith
In 2020 Jackson joined other celebrities in a new S4C television series called Iaith ar Daith ('Language Road Trip') in which they take a crash course in the Welsh language while travelling around Wales.[32] At the end of the series he was interviewed in Welsh.[33] The series was broadcast in April 2020.[34] An extra episode, Iaith ar Daith 'Dolig ('Language Road Trip: Christmas') was broadcast at the end of 2020, interviewing each of the celebrities about whether they were still making use of their Welsh and the opportunities they had had to use Welsh during lockdown.[35]
On 26 August 2017 Jackson came out as gay in a clip on Swedish television promoting the series "Rainbow Heroes".[39][40] Previously he had denied that he was gay both in his 2004 autobiography[12] and in a 2008 interview with The Voice newspaper.[41]
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