Colin Jackson

Colin Ray Jackson, (born 18 February 1967) is a Welsh former sprint and hurdling athlete, sports commentator and television personality. Quotes People always say to me I’m an eight-year-old with money. I enjoy life. And I think that’s the most important thing. I try not to stress over things in any way and I think that keeps me sane. I work with good brands, I work with good people and have good people around me. I think if you have a sense of fulfilment, you have a sense of enjoyment. I’m happy that the badness is being exposed, I think it’s really important that there’s no hiding place for anybody. Just because you’re a big name and a big country, you shouldn’t get away with stuff. So I’m happy in that sense that it’s being exposed. The only thing that is disappointing is that it happens. We’d all rather it didn’t happen. That’s the most frustrating thing for me. But I think what is good is that there is a very clear message to young people who want to do athletics as a sport — you know what, if you think you can just put your feet up and relax and reap the rewards from your cheating, [he wags his finger] it ain’t going to work that way. Because they will come for you. It might be in 20 years, but they will come for you. The athlete should know what is coming on the list, and if you’re taking anything of pharmaceutical strength, you better be reading up every single thing. Athletes want to better themselves, but if you want to start taking risks, then you’ve got to be able to deal with the consequences. I was probably the softest of everybody [on the BBC team], But as I’ve already said to people, everyone knows clearly what my stance is on drugs in the world of sport. So I don’t really have to keep reiterating that to the general public. The people you have to blame for Justin being in the position where Justin is in is our sport and our federation, not Justin. Oh, he should have a life ban — in my opinion, The problem with a life ban and taking away someone’s chance to work at what is their job is that the test is not 100% foolproof accurate. Once you have a tiny margin for error, it’s hard to enforce life bans. I have to laugh at this, and not in a bad way, and Seb would certainly agree with me in this circumstance. When he was doing all his canvassing, canvassing, canvassing out there, he would never have thought about what he was going to have to deal with if he got voted in as president. And it shocked us all, if I’m honest. He has some great ideas on where the sport can go and what angle we can take but unfortunately with all the other stuff that is going on, he needs to clear up this mess first. No-no-no-no, It’s a very closed shop in that circumstance. So when he was looking after London 2012, he’d have had no chance of looking on what was going on in the IAAF. Vice-president or not, he’d have absolutely zero opportunity to get into the nitty-gritty of athletics as a sport. Well, what I’m hoping that he can do is really shine some clarity on it and get the support of people again. One thing with Seb is he will always be as fair as he possibly can be. There’s no doubt about that. And he won’t take any messing about. He won’t take any prisoners in that circumstance. So if someone has done wrong, he will say ‘You have to go, it’s as simple as that. If they produce what they’re supposed to produce, and get in line, then will they come back in. Well, if they clean up their act, yes. I see no reason why not. But they’ve first got to clean up their act and prove that they’ve cleaned up their act. Yes, If the federation have proven they’ve cleaned up their act. Only Calvin Smith was clean!” Correct. Jackson ran in a similar event except there were hurdles out there and an extra 10 metres. Was it a moral dilemma for him to join the dirty race or was there any anguish that he was possibly cheated, given he never won an Olympic gold and it would be naive to think his event was unaffected by doping? You have a choice,And you can get it in your mind that these people are cheating around you, or you can concentrate on what you’re doing and just train hard and do the best that you can do. Otherwise it could become an excuse for not performing. It was my fault – why I pulled a muscle. I didn’t do a warm-up for the second round – because it was only the second round. I didn’t think it was necessary for me to do that to qualify. Because you’re 25, ranked number one in the world and think you’re untouchable. I wasn’t going to make the same mistake. But that’s what sport is about. Tough lessons. And you have to learn from those tough lessons. You’re a fool if you don’t. As an athlete your creative side gets crushed because there’s nothing for you to do but deliver this [performances]. But I had friends who were producers and I really loved what they were doing. Colin Jackson Interview: Scaling hurdles with a smile, March 19 2016 External Links Category:1967 births Category:1960s Category:Track and field athletes