At the 1987 World Championships Colin Jackson had encountered a great
champion in Greg Foster (U.S.A.). At the Olympics it would be the other
great American hurdler of the 1980's he would need to beat - Roger
Kingdom. His preparations for the Seoul Olympic Games were mixed. He
set his first European record of 13.11sec. for the 110mH just before the
Games but not only did he lose to Kingdom (12.97sec.) he also damaged a
hamstring. It was a recurrence of his 1986 injury and could hardly have
come at a worse time. Injury apart, it was Kingdom who he had to beat
and the powerful American was in no mood to vacate the most prestigious
title in world sport.
An early round of 13.17sec. from the American
demonstrated that his crown was not for the taking and so it proved.
The champion comfortably retained his title in an Olympic record time of
12.98sec. with Jackson (pictured in lane 1 above) second in
13.28sec. The consolation for the Welshman was the fact that he became
the first Briton for 52years to win an Olympics high hurdles medal, the
last being Don Finlay who won a silver at the 1936 Berlin Games.
1989
was the last year not to have a major championships with the consequence
that the year's biggest event was the World Cup held in the Barcelona
Olympic stadium. It was a memorable occasion for Colin as he smashed
the 13sec. barrier for the first time clocking 12.95sec. Alas, it was
aided by a tail wind of 2.51m. (legal limit 2.00m.) and therefore his
time was not acceptable as a European record, neither was Roger
Kingdom's winning time of 12.87sec. accepted as a world record.
However, they did retain their first two places in the world rankings
with 12.92sec. and 13.11sec, respectively. (GH) |