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 BORN 
February 18th, 1967
PLACE OF BIRTH
Cardiff, WALES
FAMOUS FOR
Originally a record breaking sprint and hurdling athlete,
now a sports commentator and
television presenter.
USEFUL LINKS
City Speakers
International
Welsh Athletics
BBC |
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As a boy, Colin Jackson
had an all-round talent for sport, playing football and cricket for
the county and rugby and basketball for his school, Llanedeyrn High,
but it was athletics that he enjoyed the most. The 110m hurdles
was Jackson's preferred event, and he excelled in this field.
He won his first major medal in 1986, silver for Wales at the
Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh.
He followed that with a World Championship bronze in 1987 and
another silver at the Seoul Olympics in 1988 before he was crowned
Commonwealth and European champion in 1990.
In 1993, Jackson set a world record time of 12.91 seconds for the
110m hurdles at the World Championships in Stuttgart.
Additionally, he broke a world record for his time of 7.30 seconds for the indoor
60m hurdles in 1994. Also in this year, the English reggae
band Aswad propelled Jackson to even higher fame when his name was
mentioned in their hit song
Shine.
Jackson has been praised by his fellow athletes for his focus, his
dedication and being one of the nicest guys in sport. After 13
years of holding the world record for 110m hurdles, Chinese athlete
Liu Xiang broke it in July 2006.
Jackson was full of praise for the record breaker - "People have
been asking me for 13 years how long I thought my record would
last," he said.
Jackson has now retired following the World Indoor championships in
Birmingham in March 2003 and in this year, was awarded the CBE,
thirteen years after receiving an MBE.
He currently provides coaching, and presents sports related
programmes, usually on the BBC. He was also one of the members of
the successful London 2012 Olympic bid team. |
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