Athletics: Colin Jackson’s legacy of pain

Nov 29 2007 by Sarah Miloudi, Western Mail

AS ONE of Wales’ most decorated athletes, his glittering career brought gold medals and world records, as well as a supreme level of fitness.

But Colin Jackson has revealed that the damage done to his body through decades of high intensity training has left him in such discomfort that even sitting down now causes him pain.

The Cardiff-born athlete has carved out a successful career as a TV pundit since retiring from top level sport four years ago.

But despite spending much of his on-screen time on studio sofas, he now says he finds sitting down for an extended period painful.

“Initially, after I retired from professional sport, my muscles were toned and strong and supported my joints well,” he said.

“But as the months went on and they weakened, I began to get problems with my back and knees. Even today, I find sitting for any length of time uncomfortable, particularly with all the presenting work I now do.”

Jackson told how he received repeated warnings from doctors and surgeons throughout his career, but continued to push his body to the limits necessary to reach the top of his profession.

He developed knee pains at the age of 15, and despite having just begun to dabble in sports, his doctor warned him not to continue.

But when his professional career started, so too did his string of painful injuries and constant trips to the physiotherapist.

Jackson, the former world 110m hurdles record holder, said, “You wouldn’t have known I was injured.

“I would keep going until I couldn’t walk. Having that blinkered mindset is detrimental because you do have to get fixed.

“But if I’m getting fixed, I’m off the track and as an athlete you want to keep doing what you do, which is train hard and join in races.

“But the wear and tear you create from continuing to work on injured muscles and joints leads to a huge breakdown.

“I had cartilage problems and ended up displacing one of my kneecaps.

“I had seven knee operations to try to put things right.”

He added, “One of the surgeons said that I push my body to extremes it can’t actually handle.

“I have great muscle development and I move very quickly – perhaps too quickly for my body – so the stress and pain are magnified.

“If I were about 2% less talented, they said, I would have been in perfect condition.”

Despite the former Olympian now being forced to use micro-current technology – a product called Pain Ease Micro Current Wraps – to manage his aches and pains, he refused to let injuries get in the way of success when he competed in the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing.

Even though Jackson injured his feet during the 2005 series of the show, he and his dance partner, Erin Boag , still went on to make the finals of the competition.

He said taking part in the dance contest was the “most physical thing” he had ever done, despite the hours he spent training to in order to master his hurdling technique.

Jackson said learning a new skill in a single week, then performing it in front of millions of viewers and judges who “destroy your efforts” was a nerve-wracking experience, and said GMTV’s Kate Garraway had his sympathy when she suffered an ankle injury during the early stages of the current series.

He said, “I feel sorry for her because she’s probably never had that kind of pain before, but women do far better with pain than any men that I know.”

It was only later in his career that Jackson was given a possible reason for his many injuries, aches and pains.

Colin Jackson’s career
1986: 110m silver medallist in the Commonwealth Games held in Edinburgh

1989: 60m European Indoor Champion. In the same year he also came second in the World Indoor Championships, and second in the 110m hurdles European Cup

1990: Gold medallist in the Commonwealth Games, and broke the games record by running the 110m hurdles in 13.08 seconds. He also earned an MBE for his services to athletics.

1992: Appointed CBE by the Queen, again for his contribution to British athletics.

1993: Crowned the 110m world champion in Stuttgart, Germany and broke the world record by completing the race in less than 13 seconds. He held the record for 13 years, and broke the 60m indoor hurdles record a year later.

1998: 110m silver medallist in the IAAF World Championship, held in Johannesburg, South Africa.

2002: 110m European Cup winner, and winner of the 110m European Championships held in Munich, Germany. He also broke the 60m European Indoor Championship record in the same year.