Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Born | Gosport, Hampshire, England | 31 March 1966||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
|
Roger Anthony Black MBE (born 31 March 1966) is an English former athlete who competed internationally for Great Britain and England. During his athletics career, he won individual silver medals in the 400 metres sprint at both the Olympic Games and World Championships, two individual gold medals at the European Championships, and 4 × 400 metres relay gold medals at both the World and European Championships.
Since retiring from athletics, he has worked as a television presenter and motivational speaker. In 2008, Black joined forces with fellow athlete Steve Backley and founded BackleyBlack LLP. Black has a collection of fifteen medals from major senior athletics competitions to add to his two European junior championship gold medals.
Black won five national outdoor championships at 400 metres, and one at 200 metres. [1] As of July 2022, Black remains ranked joint third in the all-time Great Britain lists for the 400 metres.
He was born in Gosport, Hampshire, to David (a doctor) and Thelma, with a twin sister Julia. He attended Alverstoke Church of England Primary School and Portsmouth Grammar School, becoming Head Boy in 1983/84. It was whilst playing football with a local team (RPFC) that he began demonstrating his prowess as a runner, scoring numerous goals as a flying forward leaving many defenders in his wake. He then joined athletics clubs, re-took one of his A-level exams and began studying medicine at the University of Southampton, but he left his course after three months as he had begun to achieve success as an athlete.[ citation needed ]
Black rose to prominence in 1985 when he won the European Junior Championships 400 m in a time of 45.43 at the age of 19.
In 1986, Black graduated to the senior ranks and made a spectacular impact first winning at the Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh in 45.57, and then at the European Championships in Stuttgart, winning in a time of 44.59, his first British Record, breaking Derek Redmond's 44.82 record from the previous year. Having also won golds in both 4 × 400 m relays at both of those events as well, Black's 1986 season had turned into a gold rush of four gold medals.
His next three seasons were wiped out through illness and injuries and he only just made the relay team for the 1987 World Championships in Rome, where the GB team won the silver medal. He returned to the track in 1990 and his good form took him to the European Championships again, which were held in Split. Black contested the 400 m final and retained his title with a time of 45.11, holding off his old rival Thomas Schönlebe. He then anchored the GB team to an easy 4 × 400 m victory winning by a margin of 15 metres, and a European record of 2:58.23, with his split time of 43.9. He thus achieved a rare double-double – two gold medals at consecutive championships.
Black's outstanding 1990 season was followed by the 1991 World Championship season holding much expectation. His early season form at Crystal Palace saw him beat Olympic Champion Steve Lewis and Antonio Pettigrew but only to lose to Michael Johnson. Johnson would not contest the 400 m at the World Championships meaning the 400 m would be a contest between Black, Pettigrew and Danny Everett as the main contenders.
Black finished second in the individual 400 m in Tokyo to Antonio Pettigrew. Black put in his effort on the third 100 m and entered the home straight two metres up on Pettigrew. He then tired and was caught on the line. Pettigrew's time was 44.57 and Black finished in 44.62. Everett also nearly caught Black on the line; his time was 44.63.
Pettigrew later admitted the use of performance-enhancing drugs from 1997 onwards in June 2008. No clear evidence has emerged, and Pettigrew never admitted anything further before his 2010 suicide, of him using performance-enhancing drugs during the 1991 season.
In the final event of the Tokyo Championships, the men's 4 x 400 relay was billed as a two-way contest between the Great Britain team and the United States team. In an unusual change of tactics, the GB team members decided to put Black on the opening leg, followed by Redmond, then John Regis and, on anchor, the 400 m hurdler Kriss Akabusi. Black later explained the tactics were to put him as first runner to give the team a lead or at least keep the team in close contention. Black's leg was 44.6 from a standing start. Redmond's leg was 44.1, though he conceded the lead to Quincy Watts. Regis followed Everett round the third lap, clocking 44.3. While Everett handed to Pettigrew with a two-metre lead, Regis handed to Akabusi. Akabusi sat in behind the World Champion Pettigrew for the first 200 m of the final lap, closed around the crown of the final bend and then the much improved Akabusi kicked past Pettigrew in the final 80 m to pull off a spectacular victory, winning in a time of 2:57.53 – a British and European record time.
Black set a new British Record of 44.37 seconds on 3 July 1996 in Lausanne, Switzerland. This was subsequently broken a year later by Iwan Thomas who shaved 0.01s from Black's time. Fellow GB athlete Mark Richardson also equalled Black's mark in 1998. As of July 2022, Black's time still stands as the third fastest of all time recorded by a British runner.
His greatest individual achievement in track and field was in the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta when in the final of the 400 m he finished in second place behind Michael Johnson, winning the silver medal in the process. However, partly due to injuries, he never rediscovered this form, and subsequently retired from the sport only two years later in 1998 after he was not selected for the 1998 European Championships.
Black was coached by Mike Smith and Mike Whittingham, and was sponsored by Reebok.
The World Championships' 4 × 400 m originally saw the USA beat Great Britain by 0.18 seconds in a thrilling finale. Subsequently, US athlete, Antonio Pettigrew admitted to using performance-enhancing substances during this period.
On 7 January 2010, it was announced that Great Britain's 1997 World Championship 4 × 400 m relay team are to be awarded the gold medal due to the disqualification of the USA team. [2]
Black, running second leg, tied up and lost ground to his old rival Pettigrew but Jamie Baulch and Mark Richardson held second place round the last two laps. Great Britain's time of 2:56.65 was just outside the time they achieved in Atlanta the previous year.
Black was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 1992 New Year Honours for services to athletics. [3] In 1995 Southampton University gave Black an honorary degree.
In 1998 Black appeared on the children's news programme Newsround with fellow athlete Iwan Thomas reporting on childhood obesity.
Black has worked regularly for the BBC on programmes such as Tomorrow's World and Grandstand . In 2004 he was one of the celebrities that took part in the pro-am dancing contest Strictly Come Dancing on BBC One. In September 2006, he took part in BBC One's Celebrity MasterChef programme, reaching the final along with Matt Dawson and Hardeep Singh Kohli.
He was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1999, when he was surprised by Michael Aspel at Heathrow Airport.[ citation needed ]
Black has written an autobiography, published by Andre Deutsch, entitled How Long's the Course?, ISBN 0-233-99644-3
Black is married to Julia Burgess, with whom he had twin boys George and Max in 2006. Black also has a daughter, Isabelle from his previous marriage to Elsa Devassoigne. Despite being born in Gosport, and attending the prestigious Portsmouth Grammar School, Black is a supporter of Southampton F.C. In August 2014, Black was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to The Guardian opposing Scottish independence in the run-up to September's referendum on that issue. [4]
As of September 2024, Black holds the track record for the men's 400 metres for Frankfurt. On 29/06/1991 aged 25 he ran 44.91 seconds making him the only man to break 45 seconds on this track.
James Stephen Baulch is a retired Welsh sprint athlete and television presenter. He won the 400 metres gold medal at the 1999 World Indoor Championships. As a member of British 4 × 400 metres relay teams, he won a gold medal at the 1997 World Championships, and silver medal at the 1996 Olympic Games. He represented Wales at the Commonwealth Games where he won an individual silver and a bronze medal in the 4 × 400 m relay.
Jerome Young is an American former track and field sprinter who specialized in the 400-meter dash. He won gold medals with the United States 4 × 400-meter relay team at the 2001 World Championships in Athletics and 1997 World Championships in Athletics, but was later stripped of these medals due to doping and was ultimately banned from the sport. He also was the heats runner for the relay team at the 2000 Summer Olympics, where the Americans won gold, but this medal was rescinded as well.
The 4 × 400 metres relay or long relay is an athletics track event in which teams consist of four runners who each complete 400 metres or one lap, totaling 1600 meters. It is traditionally the final event of a track meet. The first leg and the first bend of the second leg are run in lanes. Start lines are thus staggered over a greater distance than in an individual 400 metres race; the runners then typically move to the inside of the track. The slightly longer 4 × 440 yards relay, on an Imperial distance, was a formerly run British Commonwealth and American event, until metrication was completed in the 1970s.
Avard Moncur is a Bahamian track and field athlete competing in the 400 metres. He was born in Nassau.
Iwan Gwyn Thomas is a Welsh sprinter who represented Great Britain and Northern Ireland at the Olympic Games in the 400 metres, and Wales at the Commonwealth Games. Thomas is a former European, Commonwealth Games and World 4 × 400 metres relay champion.
John Paul Lyndon Regis, MBE is a British former sprinter. During his career, he won gold medals in the 200 metres at the 1989 World Indoor Championships and the 1990 European Championships, and a silver medal in the distance at the 1993 World Championships.
Kezie Uchechukwu Duru Akabusi, MBE, known as Kriss Akabusi, is a British broadcaster and former sprint and hurdling track and field athlete.
Martyn Joseph Rooney is an English sprinter who specialises in the 400 metres event. He reached the 400 m final at the 2008 Summer Olympics and won bronze in the 4×400 metres relay. A mainstay on the anchor leg of the Great Britain and England 4 x 400 metre relay teams, at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics he won a silver medal with the Great Britain relay team, and bronze in the 2015 and 2017 World Championships.
Todd Anthony Bennett was a British athlete who competed mainly in the 400 metres.
Philip "Phil" Andrew Brown is a British retired athlete who competed mainly in the 400 metres.
Garry Peter Cook is a former British track and field athlete, who competed mainly in the 800 metres with a best time of 1:44.55 minutes.
Mark Ashton Richardson is an English former athlete who competed mainly in the 400 metres and 4 x 400 metres relay for Great Britain and England. He won the gold medal in the 4 x 400 metres relay at the 1997 World Championships, and again in the same event at the 1998 European Championships. At the Olympic Games, he won relay silver and bronze medals in 1992 and 1996. In the individual event, Richardson's most significant international results were silver at the 1998 Commonwealth Games and bronze in the 1998 European Championships, in addition to three domestic championships gold medals between 1995 and 2002.
These are the official results of the Men's 4 × 400 metres event at the 1991 IAAF World Championships in Tokyo, Japan. There were a total number of sixteen participating nations, with three qualifying heats and the final held on Sunday 1 September 1991. The final was won by Great Britain in what was, at the time, the fourth fastest time in history. Going into the meeting, the USA 4 × 400 metres team hadn't lost at a major championships in over seven years. Britain, by contrast, hadn't won a gold medal in the event since the 1936 Berlin Olympics.
The anchor leg is the final position in a relay race. Typically, the anchor leg of a relay is given to the fastest or most experienced competitor on a team. The athlete completing the anchor leg of a relay is responsible for making up ground on the race-leader or preserving the lead already secured by their teammates.
Anyika Onuora is a British retired sprint track and field athlete who competed in the 100 metres, 200 metres and 400 metres, and also the 4×100 metres relay and 4x400 metres relay.
Brian Ian Whittle is a Scottish politician and former athlete, who has been a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the South Scotland region since 2016. A member of the Scottish Conservatives, he serves as Shadow Minister for Environment, Biodiversity and Land Reform.
Jack Green is a British sprint athlete who specialises in the 400m distance, along with the hurdles and the 4 × 400 m relay. He competed for the Great Britain team at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London and at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
Matthew Hudson-Smith is a British track and field sprinter who specialises in the 400 metres and is the 5th fastest athlete of all-time over the distance. As of September 2024 he is ranked as the number one 400m runner in the world and has won six British titles, two individual European titles, an individual Olympic silver medal, World Championships silver and bronze individual medals and an individual Commonwealth silver medal. He has also won a number of relay titles including an Olympic bronze medal, World Championships bronze medal, two European gold medals, one European silver medal, one European bronze medal and a Commonwealth Games gold medal.. Hudson-Smith also holds the European and British 4x400m records (2:55.83) along with the GB Team who ran in the final of the men's 4x400m event in the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Nethaneel Joseph Mitchell-Blake is a British sprinter who specialises in the 200 metres and the 4 x 100 metre relay. He was the 2013 European Junior Champion and his personal best of 19.95 seconds ranks him as the second-fastest in Britain of all-time in the individual event. He is only the second Briton, after Adam Gemili to break both 10 seconds for 100 metres and 20 seconds for 200 metres.
Alexander Doom is a Belgian sprinter specializing in the 400 metres. In 2024, he became the first male athlete to win the individual 400 metres and 4×400 metres relay at the same World Athletics Indoor Championships He has won several medals in international competitions with the Belgian 4 × 400 metres relay team and holds a personal best of 44.15 over the 400 metres.