Linford Christie

Linford Christie OBE is a retired British professional sprinter. He specializes in the 100 meters and was a Gold Medalist in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. He was born on April 2, 1960 in Saint Andrew, Surrey, Jamaica.

Christie has compiled 23 major championship medals and 10 Gold Medals throughout his career. He is the only British athlete to win a Gold Medal at all four major competitions in the 100 meters event: Olympic Games, World Championships, Commonwealth, and European Championships. He holds the current British record as the first European to break the 10-second barrier in the 100 meters. He previously held the European record in the 60 meters, 100 meters and 4x100 meters relay events.

Christie's career suffered a serious downfall after being found guilty of using the performance-enhancing drug in 1999. He was given a two-year ban from athletics by the IAAF while the British Olympic Association announced that Christie would not be accredited for any future Olympic Games, in accordance with their regulations.

Christie was born in Saint Andrew, Jamaica where he was brought up by his grandmother. At the age of seven he followed his parents, who had emigrated to Acton, London, England five years before. He was educated at Henry Compton Secondary School in Fulham, London and excelled in P.E.. He also joined the Air Training Corps in 1978, 336 (Hammersmith) Squadron. He did not take up athletics seriously until he was 19.

Early Career

Christie's early track career was not promising. He failed to make the Great Britain team for the 1984 Summer Olympics, not even being included in the sprint relay squad. It was not until he began to work in earnest under the coaching of Ron Roddan that he began to fulfil his potential. In 1986, he was the surprise winner of the 100 metres at the European Championships and finished second at the Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh at 100m, behind Ben Johnson.

At the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, Christie won 100m silver behind Carl Lewis after Ben Johnson, who set a world record in 9.79 seconds, was disqualified following a positive drug test for anabolic steroids. Christie faced a disciplinary hearing himself in Seoul because of an adverse drug test for the banned stimulant pseudo-ephedrine after he ran in the heats of the 200m. The hearing panel decided by a single vote to give Christie "the benefit of the doubt", so no sanction was applied.

In 1992, Christie succeeded Allan Wells as a British Olympic 100m champion, winning the title ahead of Frankie Fredericks, of Namibia at the Barcelona Olympic Games. In the absence of his great rival Lewis, Christie ran 9.96s in the final, and at 32 years old became the oldest Olympic 100m champion by four years. In 1993, he became the first man in history to hold the Olympic, World, European and Commonwealth titles in the 100m as he was victorious at the Stuttgart World Championships. He was also voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year. After 1994, he was less successful. Christie was disqualified in the 1996 Olympic final after two false starts. He retired from representative international competition in 1997, although he continued to make appearances at invitation meetings.

In February 1999, Christie competed in an indoor meet in Dortmund, Germany. A routine unannounced drug test found the banned substance nandrolone. After a six-month delay, a disciplinary hearing was convened by the British Athletic Federation which found Christie to be not guilty. But the IAAF overruled and confirmed a two-year suspension. Christie is also banned for life from British Olympic Association teams. When the story of the positive drug test was first leaked to the press, it resulted in Puma opting not to continue Christie's £100,000 sponsorship contract. Three years earlier, at the Atlanta Olympics, Christie had worn contact lenses embossed with the Puma logo at the press conference preceding the 100m final. Reebok had paid $40million to be the official sponsor, and Christie's actions were seen as ambush marketing and a breach of Olympic rules on the wearing of sponsor's logos by athletes. Though more famous for his exploits over 100m, Christie broke the world indoor record over 200 metres with 20.25s at Lievin in 1995, and remains the third fastest sprinter on the all time list. He remains the British record-holder at 100m, with the 9.87s he ran at the 1993 World Championships. 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

In 1998, less than six months before his first positive drug test, Christie 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 performance-enhancing drugs. The jury found in Christie's favour by a 10-2 majority. The judge ordered that McVicar should be bound by an injunction restraining him from accusing Christie of taking banned substances. The modest £40,000 damages awarded were outweighed by the cost Christie incurred to bring the case. After the judgment, McVicar called Christie "The Judy Garland of the 100 metres", referring to the emotional performance that Christie had given before the court. During this case, Christie raised another of his grievances with the media - comments about the figure-hugging running suits that Christie wore in his races. The term Linford's lunchbox had been coined by The Sun newspaper in reference to the bulge of Christie's genitalia in his Lycra shorts. "Linford's lunchbox is one of my grievances with the media. I don't like it ... Nobody ever goes on about Sally Gunnell's breasts ... I think it is disgusting, I don't like it at all."

In court, the judge Mr Justice Popplewell, caused hilarity in the court by asking Christie to explain the phrase, asking "What is Linford's lunchbox?" The reference became a part of pop culture, as evidenced in a joke by Nick Hancock: "There's nothing new you can say about Linford Christie, except he's slow and has got a small penis". Christie's anger at this unwanted attention led to his infamous "newspaper print" running suit, although he has deliberately drawn attention to his body on occasions: he has remarked that "A lot of people have looked at my physique and two things can come into their mind - admiration and envy." and appeared shirtless and flexing his muscles on the BBC youth series Reportage in 1988.

In recent years, however, Christie appears to have come to terms with the 'lunchbox' label, disclosing his preference for briefs rather than boxer shorts, and in 2002 becoming the "face" of Sloggi, the men's underwear brand, posing for advertising wearing only underwear. 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, saying "Linford has to be in control, he has to be number one, he has to be the leader."

Since his positive drug test Christie - who had worked as a presenter on the BBC children's program Record Breakers and also had a contract with BBC Sport - has spent less time as a public figure and has devoted most of his time to managing his company. Reflecting upon his track career, he stated: "I will have no complaints if people remember me as one of the best athletes in the world."

Away from the track, Christie, a keen amateur gardener, he also co-hosted the BBC series Garden Invaders. In 1993 the West London Stadium was renamed the Linford Christie Stadium in his honour. Christie's famous claim that he started races on the "B of the Bang" inspired a large public sculpture of the same name. Erected as a celebration of the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, it was officially unveiled by Christie in 2004. Owing to safety concerns, it was dismantled in 2009.

Personal Bests

Achievements

As of 2009, Christie's British record of 9.87seconds in the 100metres makes him the second fastest European in history; second only to Francis Obikwelu's 9.86s personal best which broke Christie's European record. His 100m personal best fares favourably in comparison with his contemporaries: Carl Lewis and Frankie Fredericks managed 9.86s while Leroy Burrell ran 9.85s.

His gold medal performances in world, European, Commonwealth and Olympic competitions rank him as one of the most successful 100m sprinters in international events. He won 10 gold medals and a total of 23 medals over his career in major championships; the record for any British male athlete. He was the third Briton, after Harold Abrahams and Allan Wells, and the fifth European to win the 100m at the Olympic Games. He remains the oldest male athlete to win the 100m at the Olympics.

In the 4 x 100 metres relay event Christie's performance as anchor, alongside Colin Jackson, Tony Jarrett and John Regis, set a European record of 37.77s in the 1993 World Championships. This was beaten six years later by a 37.73s run by a British team, which included his protégé Darren Campbell. However, Christie's team's performance is still the second fastest 4 x 100m performance by a European team and one of the best by a non-United States relay team.

Over 60 metres Christie set a European record of 6.47s in 1995 which was beaten by fellow Briton Jason Gardener in 1999 with 6.46s. Christie has the fourth fastest time over the distance for a European after Gardener, Ronald Pognon and the current European record holder Dwain Chambers.

Christie also holds 3 current 35-39 age group world records. On 23 September 1995, Christie set the current M35 world record of 9.97 in the 100 metres. On 25 June 1995 he set the current M35 world record in the 200 metres in 20.11 seconds and on 3 January 1997 Christie set the current indoor record in the M35 60 metres in a time of 6.51 seconds.

Drug Ban

Christie tested positive for the stimulant Pseudoephedrine at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, but he escaped sanction after the International Olympic Committee's disciplinary committee voted by a margin of 11 to 10. It was reported that one of the judging panel was asleep when the vote was taken. Reference to this is made in a television advert Christie made for Egg online banking in Autumn 1998.

At the 1994 European championships staged in Helsinki, where British team captain Christie won his third European 100m title, he was caught up in a doping controversy after Solomon Wariso, a 400m runner making his international championship debut, tested positive for the stimulant epherdrine. Wariso revealed that he had used an over-the-counter pick-you-up called "Up Your Gas", which Christie had bought at a Florida pharmacy.

In 1999, Christie was found guilty of using the performance enhancing drug Nandrolone following a doping test after an indoor meet in Germany. He was found to have more than 100 times normal levels of the metabolites of nandrolone in his urine. Various explanations were offered to explain the results, including eating avocado, or using nutritional supplements.

The IAAF rejected that explanation and gave Christie a two-year ban from athletics, despite UK Athletics feeling that there was "reasonable doubt whether the drug had been taken deliberately", a decision which ignored the usual drug testing principle of "strict liability".

Christie has always denied any wrong doing. "If I took drugs there had to be a reason to take drugs. I had pretty much retired from the sport." Furthermore, he denied that his physique was gained through drug use and promoted an anti-steroid approach: "It does not follow that all athletes who are big take drugs... Only by testing all athletes will the sport be kept clean of drugs."

Following the ban, the British Olympic Association announced that Christie would not be accredited for any future Olympic Games, in accordance with their regulations.