Bio and Key Wins of British Olympic and World Champion Sprinter Linford Christie

Linford Christie 100 Meter Gold Medal

Linford Christie is one of the most highly decorated British athletes of all time. He has an amazing 24 medals – all collected at major championships. The pinnacle of his career came in 1992 when he collected his sole Olympic gold medal. This was for the 100-meter sprint at the Barcelona Olympic Games.

Early Life of Linford Christie

Christie was born in Jamaica and in his early years was bought up by his grandmother. At the age of seven he joined his parents, who had earlier emigrated to London, England. His education took place in Fulham. It was clear that Christie excelled in physical education from an early age.

In 1977 he appeared in the first London Youth Games, as part of the Hammersmith and Fulham team. It was only at the age of 18 that Christie took up athletics seriously.

Pre-Success Athletics Career

LinfordIt certainly wasn’t a case of instant success for Linford Christie. In 1984 at the age of 24, an age when many sprinters are reaching their prime, the London based athlete failed to make the Great British team for the Los Angeles Olympics. He failed even to make the sprint relay team.

It was another two years before Christie would finally start to get noticed. In 1986 he was the surprising winner of the European Championship 100 metre race in Stuttgart, Germany. Christie followed this up later that summer with a second-place finish to Ben Johnson in the Commonwealth Games.

The following year, he entered his first World Championship and finished in 4th place in the men’s 100 metres.

Linford Christie Makes the Olympic Team in 1988

The following year, Christie would make his first Olympic team. He lined up in the final against legends Ben Johnson and Carl Lewis. Christie would finish third, with Johnson finishing first in world record time of 9.79 seconds. Carl Lewis finished second. The shocking news that Ben Johnson had failed a drugs test saw Lewis claim gold and Christie upgraded to silver. Christie would also see his 4th place at the previous year’s World Championship upgraded to bronze on the back of the disqualification.

1992 Olympic Gold Medal in Barcelona

Linford Christie went into the 1992 Olympics as one of the favourites for the gold. Leroy Burrell, who has claimed the world record the previous year was one of the main contenders, as was Namibian Frankie Fredericks.

In the quarter finals, Linford Christie was the fastest. In the semi-finals, Burrell edged out Christie in the first race, while Fredericks would win the second. All three main contenders were into the final.

At the start, Burrell in lane 6 and next to Christie in lane 5, would false start. They lined up again, and Burrell fearful of another false start and disqualification, got off to a slow start, which ended his chances. In the early part of the race, Fredericks and American Dennis Mitchell led the way, but then Christie powered through, to claim the race by 6 one hundredths of a second from the Namibian.

Christie was 32 years of age when he won the gold, becoming the oldest Olympic sprint champion by more than four years.

Appeal BBC Lindford Christie

Image Credit: www.bbc.co.uk

Linford’s Later Career, False Starts and Ban

The following year saw Christie improve further. He lined up in the 100 metres at the Stuttgart World Championship as clear favourite. He justified the favouritism, powering home in first place with his fastest ever time of 9.87 seconds.

In 1996, when attempting to defend his Olympic title in Atlanta, Christie was disqualified after two false starts.

In 1999, after competing at an indoor meeting in Germany, a routine drug test detected Nandrolone. A disciplinary hearing by the British Athletic Federation found Christie not guilty, but the IAAF (now World Athletics) overruled the verdict and gave Christie a 2-year ban from the sport. Christie was said to have more than 100x the usual Nandrolone levels in his blood. Some explanations detailed that eating excessive avocado or using nutritional supplements could lead to similar results, leading UK athletics to feel there might have been reasonable doubt about the positive drug test.

Christie always denied the allegations:

If I took drugs there had to be a reason to take drugs. I had pretty much retired from the sport.

MBE, OBE, and Youth Games Hall of Fame

Linford Christie would be awarded an MBE in 1990 and then an OBE in 1998. In 1993, a year after his Olympic success, the West London stadium would be renamed the Linford Christie stadium. In 2009, Christie was inducted into the London Youth Games Hall of Fame and the following year into the England Athletics Hall of Fame.

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