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Linford Christie, OBE (born April 2, 1960) is an English former athlete, and the only English man to win Olympic, World, Commonwealth and European 100 m gold medals. Christie's career was tainted after he was found guilty of using the performance enhancing drug nandralone whilst in semi-retirement, although it has to be said that he was found to have metabolites of nandrolone in his urine which has been shown to be able to be produced by taking legal nutritional supplements that may erroneously contain metabolites of nandrolone (Tseng YL, Kuo FH and Sun KH, 2005) and hence may have been accidental as in numerous other doping cases relating to nandrolone.
Early years Born in Saint Andrew, Jamaica, Christie followed his parents, who had emigrated five years before, to England at the age of seven. He was educated at Henry Compton Secondary School in Fulham, London and excelled in P.E. He did not take up athletics until he was 19. Track career Christie's early track career was not promising. He failed to make the GB team at the 1984 Summer Olympics, and it was not until he began to work in earnest under the coaching of Ron Roddan that he began to fulfill his potential. In 1986, he was the surprise winner of the 100 m at the European Championships and finished second at the Commonwealth Games. At the 1988 Summer Olympics, Christie won silver behind Carl Lewis, though only after Ben Johnson, who set a new World Record in 9.79 seconds, had been disqualified for a doping offence. Interestingly, at the same games, Christie's time of 20.09 that placed him 4th in the 200m, would have been enough to secure gold at Sydney 12 years later. In 1992, he succeeded Allan Wells as a British Olympic 100 m champion, winning the title ahead of Namibian Frankie Fredericks. In 1993, he became the first man in history to hold the Olympic, World, European and Commonwealth titles in the 100 m as he was victorious at the Stuttgart World Championships. He also became the BBC Sports Personality of the Year. After 1994, he was less successful. Christie was disqualified in the 1996 Olympic final after two false starts. In 1999, he was persuaded out of semi-retirement by his training group to compete in an indoor meet in Dortmund, Germany. But at the routine doping test he was found guilty of using the banned drug nandrolone. A leak of the story to the press resulted in the cancellation of the £100,000 contract with his sponsoring company, Puma. Although the (now defunct) British Athletic Federation found him to be not guilty, the IAAF overruled and confirmed the suspension. As a direct result, he was unable to go trackside at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, despite being coach to several competing athletes. Linford did set a world record. In 1995 he ran an indoor record of 20.25 for the 200m but by then the outdoor record was well below 20 secs. By the end of his track career Christie had won 23 medals overall, more than any other British male athlete before or since. He was appointed MBE in 1990 and OBE in 1998. Later years and relationship with the press Ironically, Christie had the previous year won a libel action against the journalist John McVicar. McVicar had insinuated in a satirical magazine that Christie's remarkable rise from 156th in the world to triumph at an age when he should have been in decline could only have been achieved through drugs. Part of the court's decision was that McVicar should be bound by an injunction restraining him from accusing Christie of taking banned substances. Nonetheless the £40,000 damages awarded were outweighed by the cost Christie incurred to bring the case. During his track career Christie frequently crossed swords with the press over jibes about his physique, notoriously "Linford's lunchbox" (concerning his genitalia in track shorts) which especially angered him. It led to his infamous "newspaper print" running suit. In 1993 Christie formed a sports management and promotions company, Nuff Respect, with sprint-hurdler Colin Jackson. One of their early products was a sports training and workout video, The S Plan: Get Fit with Christie and Jackson. Jackson was later to leave the enterprise. Since his retirement Linford Christie has spent less time as a public figure and has devoted most of his time to managing his company. Christie's famous claim that he started races on the "B of the Bang" inspired a spectacular sculpture of the same name, officially unveiled by Christie in Manchester in 2004. It celebrates the Commonwealth Games held in the city in 2002. Away from the track, Christie hosted the BBC television children's series Record Breakers for a time until its cancellation in 2001. A keen amateur gardener, he also co-hosted the series Garden Invaders. Role in the 2012 Olympics bid In the successful London bid for the 2012 Olympic Games, Christie was absent from the team, even though he states he attempted to get involved. An ongoing feud with former team-mate Sebastian Coe has been cited (by Christie himself) as the main reason for the snub. However in April 2006 it was announced that he would be a senior mentor for athletes on the national team, along with former athletes Steve Backley, Daley Thompson and Katharine Merry. In August 2006, for the first time in over 6 years he was permitted to go trackside at the European Championships in Gothenburg. Quotes and trivia Notes See also | ||||||||
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