Linford Christie

Britain’s most successful sprint athlete is Linford Christie, OBE (1960-). Born in Jamaica but growing up in London, his running talent was spotted at school but he only knuckled down to proper training at age 19, under the tutelage of his long-time coach, Ron Roddan (1931-2023). Just 14 years later, the stadium where he trained was re-named after him in honour of his legendary achievements.

After establishing himself at the top of the British championships, his international career began in 1986 with a Gold and two Silver medals. Christie has competed in the 60m, 100m, 150m, 200m, 300m, 400m, 4 x 100m relay and even the long jump, but most of his international medals were for the 100m (10), followed by the 4 x 100m relay (7), the 200m (4) and the 60m (3). He set several records and his 9.87s 100m personal best time stood as a British record from 1993 to 2023.

Christie retired from the international stage in 1997 following difficulties with officials and an unsupportive British press and went on to become a coach. Two of his pupils achieved Olympic medal-winning success themselves. He has also made TV appearances as a popular celebrity ~ the public voted him the 1993 BBC Sports Personality of the Year ~ and he is a motivational speaker.

(Images LtoR: track at the Linford Christie Stadium by David Hawgood at geograph.org.uk & coach Christie by Klingon50 at Flickr.com, both CC BY-SA 2.0)