Colin Jackson

Colin Jackson

Colin Ray Jackson, CBE, is a Welsh former sprint and hurdling athlete. He specialised in the 110 metres hurdles and won an Olympic silver medal at the 1988 Summer Olympics. His world record of 12. 91 seconds for the 110m hurdles stood for over a decade and he remains the 60 metres hurdles world record holder. He is the brother of actress Suzanne Packer who played Tess Bateman in the BBC One hospital drama Casualty.

About Colin Jackson in brief

Summary Colin JacksonColin Ray Jackson, CBE, is a Welsh former sprint and hurdling athlete. He specialised in the 110 metres hurdles and won an Olympic silver medal at the 1988 Summer Olympics. His world record of 12. 91 seconds for the 110m hurdles stood for over a decade and he remains the 60 metres hurdles world record holder. He is the brother of actress Suzanne Packer who played Tess Bateman in the BBC One hospital drama Casualty. He now works as a sports commentator for athletics and television presenter. He has appeared in Strictly Come Dancing in 2005, as well as a number of other entertainment and factual TV shows, and is a well known face on British television. Jackson, born in Cardiff, South Wales, is of Jamaican Maroon, Taíno, and Scottish ancestry. He started out as a promising decathlete before switching to high hurdles. He won gold at the 1986 World Junior Championships and he soon switched to the senior ranks. Following a silver medal in the 1986 Commonwealth Games, he won the 110 m hurdles silver at the 1987 World Championships in Athletics behind Roger Kingdom. He went undefeated at the European Championships for 12 years and was a two-time Commonwealth champion. His last major medals came in 2002, taking European indoor and outdoor gold and a Commonwealth silver. He remains the sole holder of the indoor world record at the 60m hurdles with a time of 7.

30 seconds on March 6, 1994. He also won European and Commonwealth golds outdoors in 1994, and set a European record of 6. 49 seconds over 60 metres. He finished fifth at the 2000 Summer Olympics and his last ten of these as world record holders, and see him twice crowned World Champion, twice Commonwealth Champion and four times European Champion. His career as an active competitor in the event would last a further fifteen years, the last ten as world champion holder, andsee him win four European titles and two Commonwealth medals. He retired from the sport in 2003 and is now a sports manager and coach. He was awarded a CBE for his services to athletics in 2005. He currently lives in Llanedeyrn, near Cardiff, with his wife and their two children. The couple have a son, a daughter, a son-in-law and two step-children. Jackson is a keen golfer and has been a member of the Welsh cricket team since he was a teenager. He competed at the Commonwealth Games in 1986 and 1987 and won silver in the 100m and 200m at the 1990 Commonwealth Games. In 1992 he helped the British 4x100m relay team to the world silver medal. In 1994 he set a new world record in the 60 m hurdles and sprint events. In 1996 he won his first world gold medal in Stuttgart, Germany in his first World Championships.