1.
Athens
–
Athens is the capital and largest city of Greece. In modern times, Athens is a cosmopolitan metropolis and central to economic, financial, industrial, maritime. In 2015, Athens was ranked the worlds 29th richest city by purchasing power, Athens is recognised as a global city because of its location and its importance in shipping, finance, commerce, media, entertainment, arts, international trade, culture, education and tourism. It is one of the biggest economic centres in southeastern Europe, with a financial sector. The municipality of Athens had a population of 664,046 within its limits. The urban area of Athens extends beyond its administrative city limits. According to Eurostat in 2011, the Functional urban areas of Athens was the 9th most populous FUA in the European Union, Athens is also the southernmost capital on the European mainland. The city also retains Roman and Byzantine monuments, as well as a number of Ottoman monuments. Athens is home to two UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the Acropolis of Athens and the medieval Daphni Monastery, Athens was the host city of the first modern-day Olympic Games in 1896, and 108 years later it welcomed home the 2004 Summer Olympics. In Ancient Greek, the name of the city was Ἀθῆναι a plural, in earlier Greek, such as Homeric Greek, the name had been current in the singular form though, as Ἀθήνη. It was possibly rendered in the later on, like those of Θῆβαι and Μυκῆναι. During the medieval period the name of the city was rendered once again in the singular as Ἀθήνα, an etiological myth explaining how Athens has acquired its name was well known among ancient Athenians and even became the theme of the sculpture on the West pediment of the Parthenon. The goddess of wisdom, Athena, and the god of the seas, Poseidon had many disagreements, in an attempt to compel the people, Poseidon created a salt water spring by striking the ground with his trident, symbolizing naval power. However, when Athena created the tree, symbolizing peace and prosperity. Different etymologies, now rejected, were proposed during the 19th century. Christian Lobeck proposed as the root of the name the word ἄθος or ἄνθος meaning flower, ludwig von Döderlein proposed the stem of the verb θάω, stem θη- to denote Athens as having fertile soil. In classical literature, the city was referred to as the City of the Violet Crown, first documented in Pindars ἰοστέφανοι Ἀθᾶναι. In medieval texts, variant names include Setines, Satine, and Astines, today the caption η πρωτεύουσα, the capital, has become somewhat common
Athens
–
From upper left: the
Acropolis, the
Hellenic Parliament, the
Zappeion, the
Acropolis Museum,
Monastiraki Square, Athens view towards the sea
Athens
–
Athena, patron goddess of Athens;
National Archaeological Museum
Athens
–
Acropolis of Athens, with
Odeon of Herodes Atticus seen on bottom left
2.
Greece
–
Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, historically also known as Hellas, is a country in southeastern Europe, with a population of approximately 11 million as of 2015. Athens is the capital and largest city, followed by Thessaloniki. Greece is strategically located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, situated on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, the Republic of Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to the northeast. Greece consists of nine regions, Macedonia, Central Greece, the Peloponnese, Thessaly, Epirus, the Aegean Islands, Thrace, Crete. The Aegean Sea lies to the east of the mainland, the Ionian Sea to the west, the Cretan Sea and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. Greece has the longest coastline on the Mediterranean Basin and the 11th longest coastline in the world at 13,676 km in length, featuring a vast number of islands, eighty percent of Greece is mountainous, with Mount Olympus being the highest peak at 2,918 metres. From the eighth century BC, the Greeks were organised into various independent city-states, known as polis, which spanned the entire Mediterranean region and the Black Sea. Greece was annexed by Rome in the second century BC, becoming a part of the Roman Empire and its successor. The Greek Orthodox Church also shaped modern Greek identity and transmitted Greek traditions to the wider Orthodox World, falling under Ottoman dominion in the mid-15th century, the modern nation state of Greece emerged in 1830 following a war of independence. Greeces rich historical legacy is reflected by its 18 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, among the most in Europe, Greece is a democratic and developed country with an advanced high-income economy, a high quality of life, and a very high standard of living. A founding member of the United Nations, Greece was the member to join the European Communities and has been part of the Eurozone since 2001. Greeces unique cultural heritage, large industry, prominent shipping sector. It is the largest economy in the Balkans, where it is an important regional investor, the names for the nation of Greece and the Greek people differ from the names used in other languages, locations and cultures. The earliest evidence of the presence of human ancestors in the southern Balkans, dated to 270,000 BC, is to be found in the Petralona cave, all three stages of the stone age are represented in Greece, for example in the Franchthi Cave. Neolithic settlements in Greece, dating from the 7th millennium BC, are the oldest in Europe by several centuries and these civilizations possessed writing, the Minoans writing in an undeciphered script known as Linear A, and the Mycenaeans in Linear B, an early form of Greek. The Mycenaeans gradually absorbed the Minoans, but collapsed violently around 1200 BC and this ushered in a period known as the Greek Dark Ages, from which written records are absent. The end of the Dark Ages is traditionally dated to 776 BC, the Iliad and the Odyssey, the foundational texts of Western literature, are believed to have been composed by Homer in the 7th or 8th centuries BC. With the end of the Dark Ages, there emerged various kingdoms and city-states across the Greek peninsula, in 508 BC, Cleisthenes instituted the worlds first democratic system of government in Athens
Greece
–
Fresco displaying the Minoan ritual of "bull leaping", found in
Knossos,
Crete.
Greece
–
Flag
Greece
–
The
Lion Gate,
Mycenae
Greece
–
The
Parthenon on the
Acropolis of Athens is one of the best known symbols of
classical Greece.
3.
Olympic Stadium (Athens)
–
The Olympic Stadium of Athens Spyros Louis is part of the Athens Olympic Sports Complex. It is named after the first modern Olympic marathon race winner in 1896, the stadium hosts one of the biggest sport clubs in Greece, AEK Athens. Located in the area of Marousi in Athens, the stadium was designed in 1979. It was completed in time to host the 1982 European Championships in Athletics and it was inaugurated by the President of Greece, at the time Konstantinos Karamanlis, on 8 September 1982. It was extensively renovated in time for the 2004 Summer Olympics, including a roof designed by Santiago Calatrava, the roof was added atop the sidelines and completed just in time for the opening of the Games. The two giant arcs have a span of 304m and a maximum height of 72m. Also, it has a weight of 19,000 tons with 5,000 polycarbonate panels. The west arc was assembled 72m from its position and the east 65m - both later slid into place. The roof is designed to withstand winds up to 120 km/h, the stadium was then officially re-opened on 30 July 2004. It hosted the events and the football final at the 2004 Summer Olympics. It also hosted the ceremony on 13 August 2004. The turf system consists of grass in modular containers which incorporate irrigation. The Olympic Stadium has been used as home ground in various times by the three big clubs of Athens, Olympiacos, Panathinaikos and AEK Athens. The stadium played host to Amnesty Internationals Human Rights Now, benefit Concert on 3 October 1988. The show was headlined by Sting and Peter Gabriel and also featured Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, Tracy Chapman, Youssou NDour, and George Dalaras. Madonna performed before a crowd of 75,637 at the stadium on 27 September 2008. U2 performed in front of a crowd of 82,662 during their 360° Tour on 3 September 2010, pyx Lax performed also in front of a crowd of about 80,000, during their reunion tour on 13 July 2011. It was the highest attended Greek-band-concert, Bon Jovi performed during their Bon Jovi Live Tour on 20 July 2011
Olympic Stadium (Athens)
–
Olympic Stadium
Olympic Stadium (Athens)
–
Olympic flame at the opening ceremony of
2004 Summer Olympics
Olympic Stadium (Athens)
–
2004 Summer Paralympics opening ceremony
Olympic Stadium (Athens)
–
Greece vs Malta (2007)
4.
1995 World Championships in Athletics
–
The 5th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held at the Ullevi Stadium, Gothenburg, Sweden on 5–13 August 1995. This edition featured 1804 athletes from 191 nations and this competition saw the women run the 5000 m event at the World Championships for the first time. The race replaced the 3000 m event which had run at all previous World Championships. This fate Sweden shares only with Canada and South Korea
1995 World Championships in Athletics
–
5th World Championships in Athletics
5.
IAAF World Championships in Athletics
–
The IAAF World Championships, commonly referred to as the World Championships in Athletics, is a biennial athletics event organized by the International Association of Athletics Federations. Originally held every four years, first in 1983, the current two-year cycle began in 1991, the idea of having an Athletics World Championships was around well before the competitions first event in 1983. In 1913, the IAAF decided that the Olympic Games would serve as the World Championships for athletics and this was considered suitable for over 50 years until in the late 1960s the desire of many IAAF members to have their own World Championships began to grow. In 1976 at the IAAF Council Meeting in Puerto Rico an Athletics World Championships separate from the Olympic Games was approved, two IAAF world championship events preceded the inaugural edition of the World Championships in Athletics in 1983. Four years later, the 1980 World Championships contained only two newly approved womens events, neither of which featured on the programme for the 1980 Summer Olympics, over the years the competition has grown in size. In 1983 an estimated 1,300 athletes from 154 countries participated, by the 2003 competition, in Paris, it had grown to 1,907 athletes from 203 countries with coverage being transmitted to 179 different countries. There has also been a change in composition over the years, with new events, all for women. By 2005, the differences were mens competition in the 50 km walk. The following list shows when new events were added for the first time,1987, womens 10,000 m and 10 km walk were added. 1993, womens triple jump was added,1995, womens 5000 m was added, replacing the 3000 m race. 1999, womens pole vault and hammer were added and the womens 20 km walk replaced the 10 km walk,2005, womens 3000 m steeplechase was added. Updated after 2015 Championships Note, Germany refers both to the former West Germany and the unified Federal Republic of Germany, the opening and closing ceremonies of the 8th IAAF World Championships held in Edmonton in 2001 were broadcast live to over 200 countries. The event included the mens marathon, and featured a thousand voice choir, men There are fifteen athletes who have won at least six medals. Women There are thirteen athletes who have won at least six medals, There are eighteen athletes that competed in at least eight editions
IAAF World Championships in Athletics
–
Proportional symbol map of the world showing medal totals by country since 1983 for the IAAF World Championships in Athletics
6.
International Association of Athletics Federations
–
The International Association of Athletics Federations is the international governing body for the sport of athletics. It was founded on 17 July 1912 as the International Amateur Athletic Federation by representatives from 17 national athletics federations at the organizations first congress in Stockholm, since October 1993, it has been headquartered in Monaco. Beginning in 1982, the IAAF passed several amendments to its rules to allow athletes to receive compensation for participating in international competitions. However, the organization retained the word amateur in its name until its 2001 congress, the IAAFs president is Sebastian Coe of the United Kingdom. He was elected at the 2015 congress before the 2015 World Championships in Athletics in Beijing, the process to found the IAAF was started at a meeting in Stockholm, Sweden on July 17,1912 soon after the completion of the 1912 Summer Olympics in that city. The congress that started on August 20,1913 in Berlin is when the foundation of the IAAF was formally completed, in 2015, a whistleblower leaked IAAFs blood test records from major competitions. After reviewing the results, Robin Parisotto, a scientist and leading anti-doping expert, said, so many athletes appear to have doped with impunity, and it is damning that the IAAF appears to have idly sat by and let this happen. Craig Reedie, president of the World Anti-Doping Agency, said his organisation was very disturbed by these new allegations, which will, once again, shake the foundation of clean athletes worldwide, and that its independent commission will investigate the claims. On 1 November 2015, former IAAF president Lamine Diack was arrested in France and is under investigation on suspicion of corruption, Diack allegedly accepted $1.2 million from the Russian athletics federation to cover up the positive doping tests of at least six Russian athletes in 2011. The report continued that the IAAF allowed the conduct to occur and must accept its responsibility and that corruption was embedded in the organization. In January 2016, as a result of the scandal and WADAs report. The BBC reported that as a result the IAAF would lose $33 million worth of revenue, the 11-year sponsorship deal with Adidas was due to run until 2019. World-record holding sprinter, Michael Johnson, described the scandal as more serious than that faced by FIFA, in February,2016, Nestle announced that it was ending its IAAF sponsorship. In June 2016, following a meeting of the IAAFs ruling council, in Ferbuary 2017, All-Russia Athletic Federation disqualified by decision of the IAAF Council for 8 years for the creation of a doping system. Since the establishment of the IAAF, it has had six presidents, The IAAF has a total of 215 member federations divided into 6 area associations
International Association of Athletics Federations
–
IAAF Council Members gathered for the 2014 IAAF Council Meeting
International Association of Athletics Federations
–
International Association of Athletics Federations
International Association of Athletics Federations
–
The
World Championships in Athletics is the foremost athletics competition held by the
IAAF.
7.
Lausanne
–
Lausanne is a city in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, and the capital and biggest city of the canton of Vaud. The city is situated on the shores of Lake Geneva and it faces the French town of Évian-les-Bains, with the Jura Mountains to its north-west. Lausanne is located 62 kilometres northeast of Geneva, Lausanne has a population of 146,372, making it the fourth largest city in Switzerland, with the entire agglomeration area having 420,000 inhabitants. The metropolitan area of Lausanne-Geneva was over 1.2 million inhabitants in 2000, Lausanne is a focus of international sport, hosting the International Olympic Committee, the Court of Arbitration for Sport and some 55 international sport associations. It lies in a noted wine-growing region, the city has a 28-station metro system, making it the smallest city in the world to have a rapid transit system. Lausanne will host the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics, by the 2nd century AD it was known as vikanor Lousonnensium and in 280 as lacu Lausonio. By 400 it was civitas Lausanna and in 990 it was mentioned as Losanna, after the fall of the Roman Empire, insecurity forced the transfer of Lausanne to its current centre, a hilly site that is easier to defend. The city which emerged from the camp was ruled by the Dukes of Savoy, then it came under Bern from 1536 to 1798 and a number of its cultural treasures, including the hanging tapestries in the Cathedral, were permanently removed. Lausanne has made a number of requests to recover them, after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, Lausanne became a place of refuge for French Huguenots. In 1729 a seminary was opened by Antoine Court and Benjamin Duplan, by 1750 ninety pastors had been sent back to France to work clandestinely, this number would rise to four hundred. Official persecution ended in 1787, a faculty of Protestant theology was established at Montauban in 1808, during the Napoleonic Wars, the citys status changed. In 1803, it became the capital of a newly formed Swiss canton, in 1964 the city hosted the Swiss National Exhibition, displaying its newly found confidence to host major international events. From the 1950s to 1970s a large number of Italians, Spaniards and Portuguese immigrated, settling mostly in the district of Renens. The city has served as a refuge for European artists, while under the care of a psychiatrist at Lausanne, T. S. Eliot composed most of his 1922 poem The Wasteland. Hemingway also visited from Paris with his wife during the 1920s, in fact, many creative people - such as Edward Gibbon, an historian, and Romantic era poets Shelley and Byron - have sojourned, lived, and worked in Lausanne or nearby. The city has been quiet, but in the late 1960s. Later demonstrations took place to protest against the high cinema prices, the most important geographical feature of the area surrounding Lausanne is Lake Geneva. Lausanne boasts a dramatic panorama over the lake and the Alps, in addition to its generally southward-sloping layout, the centre of the city is the site of an ancient river, the Flon, which has been covered since the 19th century
Lausanne
–
Aerial view of Lausanne
Lausanne
–
Saint-François square, c. 1840
Lausanne
–
The agglomeration of Lausanne,
Lake Geneva and the
Alps.
Lausanne
–
The Charles-Bessières bridge with
Lausanne Metro car. In the background
the cathedral of Notre-Dame and the
old town.
8.
2004 Summer Olympics
–
10,625 athletes competed, some 600 more than expected, accompanied by 5,501 team officials from 201 countries. There were 301 medal events in 28 different sports, Athens 2004 marked the first time since the 1996 Summer Olympics that all countries with a National Olympic Committee were in attendance. 2004 marked the return of the games to the city where they began, a new medal obverse was introduced at these Games, replacing the design by Giuseppe Cassioli that had been used since the 1928 Games. This rectified the long lasting mistake of using a depiction of the Roman Colosseum rather than a Greek venue, the new design features the Panathenaic Stadium. The cost of the 2004 Athens Summer Games has been cited as a contributor to the Greek government-debt crisis, some of the venues lie vacant and rotting, while others are in use, the Independent newspaper reports as many as 21 out of 22 are unused. The final medal tally was led by the United States, followed by China, several World and Olympics records were broken during the games. Several concerns were raised over the preparations of the Games and these included excessive budget overruns, infrastructural compromise, the games were deemed generally successful with the rising standard of competition amongst nations across the world. Athens was chosen as the host city during the 106th IOC Session held in Lausanne on 5 September 1997, Athens had lost its bid to organize the 1996 Summer Olympics to Atlanta nearly seven years before on 18 September 1990, during the 96th IOC Session in Tokyo. 1996 coincided with the 100th Anniversary of the first modern Olympics, under the direction of Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, Athens pursued another bid, this time for the right to host the Summer Olympics in 2004. After leading all voting rounds, Athens easily defeated Rome in the 5th, cape Town, Stockholm, and Buenos Aires, the three other cities that made the IOC shortlist, were eliminated in prior rounds of voting. Six other cities submitted applications, but their bids were dropped by the IOC in 1996 and these cities were Istanbul, Lille, Rio de Janeiro, San Juan, Seville, Saint Petersburg and Cali. The 2004 Summer Olympic Games cost the Government of Greece €8.954 billion to stage, the Athens 2004 Organizing Committee, responsible for the preparation and organisation of the games, concluded its operations as a company in 2005 with a surplus of €130.6 million. ATHOC contributed €123.6 million of the surplus to the Greek State to cover other related expenditures of the Greek State in organizing of the games, as a result, ATHOC reported in its official published accounts a net profit of €7 million. The State’s contribution to the total ATHOC budget was 8% of its expenditure against an originally anticipated 14%, the overall revenue of ATHOC, including income from tickets, sponsors, broadcasting rights, merchandise sales etc. totalled €2,098.4 million. The largest percentage of income came from broadcasting rights. The overall expenditure of ATHOC was €1,967.8 million. e, the large projects required for the upgrade of the country’s infrastructure, including sports infrastructure, roads, airports, hospitals, power grid etc. This cost, however, is not directly attributable to the organisation of the Games. Such infrastructure projects are considered by all standards as fixed asset investments that stay with the hosting country for decades after the Games
2004 Summer Olympics
–
The ceremony for the lighting of the flame is arranged as a pagan pageant, with priestesses dancing.
2004 Summer Olympics
–
Games of the XXVIII Olympiad
2004 Summer Olympics
–
The OAKA Plaza and Arch adjacent to the Olympic Stadium
2004 Summer Olympics
–
Faliro Sports Pavilion Arena
9.
Maurice Greene (athlete)
–
Maurice Greene is an American former track and field sprinter who specialized in the 100 meters and 200 meters. He is a former 100 m world record holder with a time of 9.79 seconds, during the height of his career he won four Olympic medals and was a five-time World Champion. This included three golds at the 1999 World Championships, a feat which had only been done by Carl Lewis. His career was affected by a number of injuries from 2001 onwards, although he won the 100 meters bronze, Greene was also successful indoors, he was the 1999 Indoor World Champion and remains the world record holder in the 60-meter dash and the joint-fastest man over 50 meters. He raced sparingly after an injury in 2005 and officially retired in 2008, over his career, he made the second most sub-10-second runs in the 100m. Following his track career he has become an ambassador for the IAAF and a TV personality, appearing on Identity, Blind Date, most recently he volunteered as a track coach at University of California at Los Angeles for the 2012–2013 season. Maurice Greene was born in Kansas City, Kansas and attended F. L, in his youth and high school, he participated in both American football and track and field. After high school, Greene received a Track scholarship to the University of Kansas, in 1995 he took part in his first major international tournament at the World Championships in Gothenburg, but was eliminated in the 100 m quarter-finals. His next season was disappointing, as he failed to make the American team for the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, after watching the Olympic final from the stands, Greene made his way to Los Angeles to seek the coaching of John Smith. He joined the start up HSI group and he went on to become the groups most visible member. The following season would be his breakthrough, at the World Championships in Athens, Greene won the 100 m title. This marked the beginning of Greenes dominance in the 100 m and he successfully defended his title in 1999 and 2001 and captured the Olympic gold medal in the 2000 Olympics. He was also successful at the 200 m, at the 1999 World Championships, he also won the 200 m title, the first to win both sprint events at a World Championships. However, he did not run the 200 m at the 2000 Olympics after an injury at the US trials. In 1999 he set the 100 m world record at 9.79 s, beating Donovan Baileys standing world record of 9.84 s, Greene also matched Baileys 50 m indoor world record time, but the run was never ratified. He also set the 60 m indoor record twice. His 60 m indoor record is currently at 6.39 s, in addition, Maurice Greene is the only sprinter to hold the 60 m and 100 m world records at the same time. The record was broken legitimately by Asafa Powell in 2005 with a time of 9.77 s.01 seconds, Greene ran 53 sub-10-second 100 m races during his career, which at the time was more than any other sprinter in history
Maurice Greene (athlete)
–
Greene after winning the 100 m event at the
2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney
10.
Donovan Bailey
–
Donovan Bailey is a retired Canadian sprinter, who once held the world record for the 100 metres. He recorded a time of 9.84 seconds to win the medal at the 1996 Olympic Games. He was the first Canadian to legally break the 10-second barrier in the 100 m, particularly noted for his top speed, Bailey ran 27.07 mph in his 1996 Olympic title run, the fastest ever recorded by a human at the time. In 2005, Donovan Bailey was inducted into the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame, born in Manchester, Jamaica in 1967, Bailey immigrated to Canada at age 13, and played basketball before his graduation at Queen Elizabeth Park High School in Oakville, Ontario. He began competing as a 100 m sprinter part-time in 1991, at that time, he was also a stockbroker. He was coached by American Dan Pfaff, at the 1995 world Track & Field Championships in Gothenburg, Sweden, Bailey won both the 100m sprint and the 4 ×100 m relay titles. As a precursor to the centennial Olympics being held in Atlanta, Bailey broke the indoor 50 m world record during a competition in Reno and he was timed at 5.56 seconds. Maurice Greene matched that performance in 1999, but his run was never ratified as a world record, Bailey repeated the double at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, setting a world record of 9. 84s +0.7 m/s wind in the 100 m. Many Canadians felt his victory restored the image of Canadian athletes, Bailey was only the second person to hold all the major titles in the 100 m concurrently, Carl Lewis was the first to achieve this feat. Bailey won a world title in 1997 with the Canadian relay team. After the 1997 season Bailey ruptured his Achilles tendon during the post season 98 and he made a second attempt in the 2000 Summer Olympics for Olympic glory, but suffered from pneumonia and dropped out during the rounds. He retired from the sport in 2001, having been a three-time World, baileys time of 9.84 in Atlanta was the 100m world record from 1996 until 1999, when it was broken by Maurice Greene. The time also stood as the Commonwealth record from 1996 until 2005, when it was broken by Asafa Powell and his Olympic record was broken by Usain Bolt at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. In May 1997 he raced against Michael Johnson in a 150 m race at Torontos SkyDome in a bid to determine who the worlds fastest man was. Though Bailey ran in the competition, he refused to take part. Bailey won with a time of 14.99 seconds and received $1.5 million, after racing, Bailey started his own company called DBX Sport Management which helps amateur athletes find a way to promote themselves. He also started a sport injury clinic in Oakville, Ontario and he has been inducted into Canadas Sports Hall of Fame twice, in 2004 as an individual, and in 2008 as part of the 1996 Summer Olympics 4 ×100 relay team. In August 2008 Bailey began work as a commentator for CBC Television at the 2008 Summer Olympics
Donovan Bailey
–
Donovan Bailey
11.
Ato Boldon
–
Ato Jabari Boldon is a former athlete from Trinidad and Tobago and four-time Olympic medal winner. Only three other men in history—Usain Bolt, Frankie Fredericks and Carl Lewis—have won as many Olympic individual event sprint medals. He is the current Trinidad and Tobago national record holder in the 50,60 and 200 metres events with times of 5.64,6.49 and 19.77 seconds respectively. He also held the 100m national record at 9.86, having run it four times and he also holds the Commonwealth Games record in the 100 m. After retiring from his career, he was an Opposition Senator in the Trinidad and Tobago Parliament. He is now a ESPN and NBC Sports television broadcast analyst for track, Boldon was born in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad to a Jamaican mother and Trinidadian father. He attended Fatima College in Trinidad before leaving for the United States at age fourteen, in December 1989, as a soccer player at Jamaica High School in Queens, New York City, head coach Joe Trupiano noticed his sprinting abilities during a soccer practice session. After transferring for his year from Jamaica High to Piedmont Hills High School in San Jose, California. He also continued to sprint, placing third in the 200 m at the CIF California State Meet in 1991, Athletics became his primary focus and he won the Junior Olympic Title that summer in Durham, North Carolina, in 200 m. At 18, Boldon represented Trinidad and Tobago at 100 metres and 200 m in the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona and he was also an NCAA Champion while enrolled as a sociology major at the University of California at Los Angeles, in 1995 in the 200 m. He secured an NCAA100 m Championship in 1996, in Eugene, Oregon, in the race of his collegiate career. Boldon also held the collegiate 100 m record with 9.90 s from 1996 until it was broken by Travis Padgett, at the time he was the youngest athlete ever to win a medal in that event, at 21 years of age. The following year at the 1996 Summer Olympics, he placed third in the 100 m and 200 m events. In 1997, he won the 200 m at the World Championships in Athens, Greece and this made him one of only a few male sprinters to win both a World Junior and World Senior title. He picked up gold in the 100 m at the 1998 Commonwealth Games held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, setting a time of 9.88 s, beating Namibias Frankie Fredericks. The Commonwealth Games 100 m record remains unbroken and it is in no way something where the blame is laid on the athlete, ” said IAAF General Secretary István Gyulai of the positive result. That brought Boldons career total to four World Championship medals, to match his four Olympic medals, in 2006, a judge in Trinidad found that Boldon was not at fault in that accident and he was paid substantial damages as a result. That accident left Boldon with a hip injury, and he was a shadow of his former self as a sprinter
Ato Boldon
–
Ato Boldon at the Sydney 2000 Olympics
12.
Frankie Fredericks
–
Frank Frankie Fredericks is a former track and field athlete from Namibia. Running in the 100 metres and 200 metres, he won four medals at the Olympic Games, making him Namibias first. He also won medals at the World Championships, World Indoor Championships, All-Africa Games. He is the world indoor record-holder for 200 metres, with a time of 19.92 seconds set in 1996, Fredericks has broken 20 seconds for the 200 metres 24 times. He also holds the third-fastest non-winning time for the 200 metres, in August 1996, Fredericks ran 19.68 seconds in the Olympic final in Atlanta, Georgia. He is also the oldest man to have broken 20 seconds for the 200 metres, on 12 July 2002 in Rome, Fredericks won the 200 metres in a time of 19.99 seconds at the age of 34 years 283 days. He is currently serving as a member in the IAAF. On March 3,2017, Fredericks was implicated in the IAAF corruption scandal, born in Windhoek on 2 October 1967, Frankie Fredericks was awarded a scholarship at Brigham Young University in the US in 1987. During his college career, Fredericks earned numerous All-American citations and won three NCAA championships, in 1990, after his country had become independent of South Africa, Fredericks could participate in international competition. At the World Championships in 1991, Fredericks won a medal in the 200 m, finishing behind Michael Johnson. The following year, at the Barcelona 1992 Summer Olympics, Fredericks became Namibias first Olympic medalist when he finished second in both the 100 m and 200 m. He won the medal in the mens 100-meter dash, with a time of 10.02 seconds. In 1993, in Stuttgart, he became the nations first World Champion, at the 1994 Commonwealth Games, he won gold in the 200 m and bronze in the 100 m. His time of 19.97 seconds in the 200 metres is the current Commonwealth Games record, at the 1995 World Championships 100 m, after crossing the line he immediately went to help his friend Linford Christie who pulled a muscle in the race and signalled for help. This act of kindness endeared him to many athletics fans, for the 1996 Summer Olympics, Fredericks was among the title favourites for both the 100 m and 200 m. He reached both finals, and again finished second in both, in the 100 m, he was beaten by Donovan Bailey, who set a new World Record, and in the 200 m he was beaten by Michael Johnson, who also set a new World Record. At the time, Frederickss second-place run was the third fastest run in history, at the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Frankie once again missed out on the chance of gold in the 100 m, he was beaten by Ato Boldon of Trinidad and Tobago. Suffering from injuries, Fredericks had to withdraw from the 1999 and 2001 World Championships, Fredericks won the 200 m at the inaugural Afro-Asian Games in 2003
Frankie Fredericks
–
Fredericks at the 2014 IAAF Council Meeting
Frankie Fredericks
–
Fredericks making an appearance at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics
13.
Michael Johnson (athlete)
–
Michael Duane Johnson is a retired American sprinter. He won four Olympic gold medals and eight World Championships gold medals and he formerly held the world and Olympic records in the 200 m and 400 m as well as the world record in the indoor 400 m. He also held the worlds best time at the 300 m. Johnson is generally considered one of the greatest and most consistent sprinters in the history of track and field. He is the male athlete in history to win both the 200 metres and 400 metres events at the same Olympics, a feat he accomplished at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. Johnson is also the man to successfully defend his Olympic title in the 400 m. Aside from his Olympic success Johnson accumulated eight gold medals at World Championships, Johnsons stiff upright running position and very short steps defied the conventional wisdom that a high knee lift was essential for maximum speed. As of 2012, Johnson holds 13 of the top 100 times for the 200 metres and 27 of the top 100 times for the 400 metres, of those, he holds 14 of the top 25 times for the 400 metres. He broke 44 seconds for the 400 metres twenty-two times, more than twice as many times as any other athlete, Johnson was born and raised in Dallas, Texas as the youngest of five children, his parents were a truck driver and a schoolteacher. He began running competitively at age 10, and attended Skyline High School, at Baylor, Johnson was coached by Clyde Hart, and won several NCAA titles in both indoor and outdoor sprints and relays. Among his early collegiate feats, Johnson broke the record for the 200 m in his very first race with a time of 20.41. He prepared for the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, but developed a stress fracture of his left fibula before the U. S. Olympic trials began and he did not qualify in the 400 m and he withdrew from the 200 m. In 1989, he placed 2nd in the 400 at the USA Indoor Championship, while at the NCAA Outdoor Championship he led off runner-up Baylor in the 4 x 400 with a time of 43.8 and won the 200 in 20.59. Johnson hit his stride in his season, winning three of the four major 200 m events on the schedule, taking the 400 m at the USA Indoors Championship. Johnson graduated from Baylor in 1990 with a degree in business. In 1991 at the World Championships in Tokyo, Johnson won his first world title by winning the 200 m race by the margin of victory of 0.33 of a second over Frankie Fredericks. Two weeks before the 1992 Summer Olympics began, Johnson and his agent both contracted food poisoning at a restaurant in Spain, Johnson lost both weight and strength. He was the favorite to win the 200 m going into the Olympics, but he could do no better than sixth in his semifinal heat, and failed to reach the 200 m final. Nevertheless, he was able to race as a member of the 4 ×400 m relay team, Johnson ran his leg in a time of 44.73
Michael Johnson (athlete)
–
Michael Johnson at London's Olympic Stadium
Michael Johnson (athlete)
–
Johnson's gold shoes
14.
Tyree Washington
–
Tyree Washington is a retired American sprinter. Born in Riverside, California, Washington attended both La Sierra High School and San Bernardino Valley College. His coach during 2003 was Antonio Pettigrew, who ran alongside Washington, Michael Johnson, at the 2003 World Championships, Washington originally finished first in the 4 ×400 metres relay with Young, Calvin Harrison and Derrick Brew, and second in the 400 m behind Young. Calvin Harrison was found guilty of a violation in June 2003. Young was given a ban for a second offence in 2004. His last major win was at the 2006 world indoor championships and he retired in 2008 after failing to qualify at the US Olympic trials. 400 m bronze medal 4 ×400 m relay gold medal 1998 Goodwill Games Silver medalist 400 meters, Goodwill Games Silver medalist 200 meters 2003 World Championships – Paris, France. 400 m gold medal 4 ×400 m relay disqualified due to a doping of one of his team mates IAAF World Indoor Championships – Birmingham, England. 400 m gold medal 4 ×400 m relay gold medal 2005 World Athletic Final 400 meter Champion 2006 IAAF World Indoor Championships – Moscow,4 ×400 m relay gold medal He ran the fastest time in 2001 and again in 2003. Official website Tyree Washington profile at IAAF Tyree Washington profile at USATF
Tyree Washington
–
Tyree Washington
15.
Wilson Kipketer
–
Wilson Kosgei Kipketer is a Kenyan-born Danish former middle distance runner. Until 2012 he held the world record at the 800 metres distance. While dominating the 800 m distance for a decade, remaining undefeated for a period and running 8 of the 17 currently all-time fastest times. He did, however, win gold medals in three editions of the IAAF World Championships in Athletics. Kipketers 800 meters world record stood for almost 13 years and it was surpassed on 22 August 2010, when David Rudisha beat it by 0.02 seconds, running 1,41.09. David Rudisha would eventually go on to lower the 800m world record to the first. Kipketer was born in Kapchemoiywo, Kenya, into the Kalenjin tribe, as a teenager, he was first noticed by 1968 and 1972 Olympic champion Kip Keino. Keino suggested Kipketer attend the Catholic St. Patricks High School in Iten that was famous for bringing up young runners. David Rudisha, who surpassed Kipketers 800m world record in 2010, was like Kipketer coached by longtime St. Patricks coach, teacher and former Headmaster Brother Colm OConnell. Unlike Kipketer, Rudisha did not attend St. Patricks, rather he went to a neighboring St. Francis, Kimuron Secondary School in Iten, in 1990, Kipketer travelled to Denmark as a foreign exchange student, studying electronic engineering. He liked Denmark so much that he applied for Danish citizenship, the next year, he won 10 of 12 races, ran under 1,43 twice with his 1,42.87 being the world leader, and he competed for Denmark in the 1995 World Championships. It was there that he claimed his first World Championship title in the 800 metres, however, Kipketer was not a full Danish citizen, and in 1996 the International Olympic Committee disallowed him from competing for Denmark in the Olympic Games in Atlanta, USA. Despite his absence from the Olympics, there was no doubt that Kipketer was the strongest 800 m runner in the world that year, despite not participating in the Olympics, Track & Field News magazine ranked him number one in the world in the 800 meters for 1996. In 1997 Kipketer was at the peak of his career, in March he won the 800 m gold at the Indoor World Championships in Paris, France. In fact, he broke the world record time in the heats by nearly a second. Then in the final he took yet another second off the record with a scintillating 1,42.67. On 7 July he tied Sebastian Coes world record for the 800 metres at a meeting in Stockholm, Coes record had stood for sixteen years. He went on to break the record twice that year, the first time being in Zurich, eleven days later, on 24 August, he improved the world record to 1,41.11 at the Grand Prix meet in Cologne, Germany
Wilson Kipketer
–
Kipketer in 2010
16.
Hicham El Guerrouj
–
Hicham El Guerrouj is a retired Moroccan middle-distance runner. El Gerrouj is the current world record holder in the 1500 meters, mile and outdoor 2000 meters events and he is considered the greatest middle-distance runner of all time. El Gerrouj holds seven of the ten fastest times run in the mile, in November 2014 he was inducted into the International Association of Athletics Federations Hall of Fame. A year later, he was the #2 man on the Moroccan team at the World Junior Cross Country Championships, in 1994, he was a member of the Moroccan team in the 1994 IAAF World Road Relay Championships, which won the race in world record time. El Guerrouj rose to prominence in the mid-1990s with near-record times in the 1500 metres. At the age of 20 he finished second in the 1500 metres to then world record holder Noureddine Morceli at the 1995 World Championships in Gothenburg. In 1996 after setting a new personal best over 1500 metres in 3,29.59 in Stockholm, El Guerrouj competed in his first Olympic Games in 1996 at Atlanta. Running the 1500 metres final, as he was moving into position to challenge for the lead, he fell with 400 m to go and he had been expected to challenge the world record holder and three-time World champion, Noureddine Morceli. One month later, at the Grand Prix final in Milan, in the following years, El Guerrouj became the only middle distance runner to win four consecutive world titles in 1997,1999,2001, and 2003. In 1998 in Rome, El Guerrouj broke Morcelis 1500 m world record with a time of 3,26.00. In 1999, also in Rome, El Guerrouj broke the record in the mile set by Noureddine Morceli in 1993. Noah Ngeny of Kenya, who ran second, was also under the world record with a time of 3,43.40. This was the first time in over 40 years that two men had bettered the world record in the same race. Later that season he set a new record over 2000 m in Berlin at 4,44.79. He also ran the second fastest 3000 m ever in Brussels, El Guerrouj successfully defended his 1500 m title in the 2001 and 2003 World Championships and came close to breaking his own 1500 m record in Brussels in 2001 with a time of 3,26.12. He also won 3 consecutive IAAF Golden League prizes in 2001,2002 and 2003 and he was the only middle distance athlete to produce the winning streak necessary to be entitled for a share of the jackpot of 50 kilograms of gold or USD1 million. He remains the only athlete to have won it three times in a row, in 2003, El Guerrouj set a personal best of 12,50.24 in the 5000 metres. Only 20 days before the Olympic final,2000 Olympic bronze medalist Bernard Lagat ran the fastest 1500 m in 2004, on August 24, in the final straight of the Olympic 1500m final, El Guerrouj narrowly beat Lagat by 0.12 seconds, winning the gold medal
Hicham El Guerrouj
–
El Guerrouj in 2010
Hicham El Guerrouj
–
El Guerrouj and Carlos García at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens
17.
Haile Gebrselassie
–
Haile Gebrselassie is a retired Ethiopian long-distance track and road running athlete. He won two Olympic gold medals over 10,000 metres and four World Championship titles in the event and he won the Berlin Marathon four times consecutively and also had three straight wins at the Dubai Marathon. Further to this, he won four world titles indoors and was the 2001 World Half Marathon Champion. Haile had major wins at distances between 1500 metres and the marathon, moving from outdoor, indoor and cross country running to road running in the latter part of his career. He broke 61 Ethiopian national records ranging from 800 metres to the marathon, set 27 world records, and is widely regarded as the greatest distance runner in history. In September 2008, at the age of 35, he won the Berlin Marathon with a record time of 2,03,59. The record stood for three years, since he was over the age of 35, that mark still stands as the Masters Age group world record. Haile was born as one of ten children in Asella, Oromiya Region, as a child growing up on a farm he used to run ten kilometres to school every morning, and the same back every evening. This led to a running posture, with his left arm crooked as if still holding his school books. The next year, in 1993, Haile won the first of what would eventually be four consecutive world titles in the mens 10,000 metres at the 1993,1995,1997. His win at the 1993 was however his most infamous as he stepped on the heel of Moses Tanuis shoe at the bell. After the contact, with just one shoe, an angered Tanui moved out to a 10 meter lead, also at the 1993 World Championships he ran in the 5, 000-metre race to finish a close second behind Ismael Kirui of Kenya. In 1994 he won a medal at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships. Later that year he set his first world record by running a 12,56.96 in the 5, 000-metres, in 1995, Haile ran the 10, 000-metres in 26,43.53 in Hengelo, Netherlands, lowering the world record by nine seconds. That same summer, in Zürich, Switzerland, Haile ran the 5000 metres in 12,44.39 and this world record at the Weltklasse meet in Zürich was voted Performance of the Year for 1995 by Track & Field News magazine.09. In 1997, Haile turned the tables on Komen at the same meet, Komen, in turn, took Hailes record only nine days later when Komen ran a 12,39.74 performance in Belgium. In June 1998 in Hengelo, Netherlands, Haile set a 10,000 metres world record 26,22.75, breaking Paul Tergats world record 26,27.85, running evenly paced 13, 11/13,11 5K splits. Just 13 days later, Haile took on the 5000 metres mark of Komen in Helsinki, croatian pacemaker Branko Zorko took the pace out slowly, hitting 1000 metres in 2,33.91 and dropping out at the mile
Haile Gebrselassie
–
Haile at the Olympic hunger summit in London, August 2012
Haile Gebrselassie
–
Haile competing on the track in
Hengelo, the
Netherlands
Haile Gebrselassie
–
Haile (second, in green) on the way to becoming two-time 10,000 m Olympic champion in Sydney
Haile Gebrselassie
–
Haile in New York in 2003
18.
Paul Tergat
–
Paul Kibii Tergat is a Kenyan former professional long distance runner. He held the record in the marathon from 2003 to 2007, with a time of 2,04,55. Towards the end of his career he concentrated exclusively on the marathon, Tergat won many titles and set several world records on the track, in cross country, and on the road. He lives and trains in Ngong, near Nairobi, Paul Tergat was born on 17 June 1969 in Riwo, Baringo District, in Kenyas Rift Valley Province. He attended Riwo Primary school and later joined Kapkawa Boys High School, unlike many athletes, Tergat realised his talent after graduating high school. Tergat won five straight IAAF World Cross Country Championships titles,1995 to 1999, says Tergat, Cross country is what I always liked most. It was my world, my passion, before the IAAF introduced the short course in 1998, all the world class athletes from 1500 m to the marathon were in the same race. He won the Lisbon Half Marathon in 2000, setting a new course record and he won the race again in 2005 with a time of 59,10. Tergats achievements also include 5 victories in the traditional Saint Silvester Road Race and he holds the record for the present 15 km distance, which he established in 1995. His performances in the Saint Silvester race have earned him celebrity status in Brazil and he has had an intense rivalry with his friend Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia. In the Olympic Games 10, 000m finals of both 1996 Atlanta Olympics and 2000 Sydney Olympics, he was defeated by Gebrselassie by slim margins, in 2000, the margin of victory was only nine hundredths of a second. On the track, Tergat broke Gebrselassies 10, 000-metre world record on 22 August 1997 in Brussels with a time 26,27.85 minutes, the record was broken again by Gebrselassie in 1998, but Tergats time remains a Kenyan record. On the road, Tergat broke the half marathon record on 4 April 1998 in Milan by running in 59,17 minutes. The previous record,59,47 minutes was set by Moses Tanui in 1993, Tergats world record was broken in 2005 by Samuel Wanjiru, another Kenyan. When Tergat raced Gebrselassie in the London Marathon in 2002, it was Tergat who beat Gebrselassie, the three runners raced again in the 2007 version with Tergat being the only one of them to finish. He became an IOC member at the 125th IOC Session in Buenos Aires in September 2013, Tergat finished second in his first three marathons, London Marathon in 2001 and 2002 and Chicago Marathon in 2001. He continued marathoning by two places, Chicago 2002 and London 2003. He set the world record of 2,04,55
Paul Tergat
–
Paul Tergat
Paul Tergat
–
Tergat setting a new world record to the marathon at
Berlin, 2003.
Paul Tergat
–
Tergat,
Josette Sheeran Shiner and
Drew Barrymore meet with
Condoleezza Rice
19.
Steve Moneghetti
–
Stephen James Steve Moneghetti, AM, is an Australian long-distance runner and physical health consultant. Moneghetti has a degree in engineering, a graduate diploma in education. He is a development consultant with the Ministry of Education and chair of the Victorian Review into Physical. Moneghetti was not considered to be a runner in primary school. Attempting to join Little Athletics, his father was told that Moneghetti was not wanted, however, by high school he had developed into an excellent endurance athlete and was well on his way to becoming one of Australias greatest marathon runners. He is married to Tanya Moneghetti and they have four children Emma, Laura, Matthew and he started out as a 10,000 metre runner and finished fifth in that event at the 1986 Commonwealth Games. He ran his first marathon at the same meet winning the bronze medal and his first marathon victory was in Berlin in 1990 in the time of 2,08,16, coming only a couple of weeks after winning the Great North Run in 1,00,34. In 1991 he set the record of 40,03 for Sydneys iconic 14 km City 2 Surf. In 1994 he won the Tokyo Marathon and the marathon at the Commonwealth Games and he came 3rd in the 1997 World Championships marathon race. He has also competed in the marathon at four Olympic Games,1988 in Seoul,1992 in Barcelona,1996 in Atlanta and 2000 in Sydney and his best performance in the Olympics was 5th place at Seoul in 1988. Moneghettis last race representing Australia was the Sydney 2000 Olympic Marathon, after meeting trouble in the middle of the race he recovered to finish 10th. In the interview after the race, he thanked Australia for its support during his long career, Moneghetti continued to race for fun in other events in Australia such as the City to Surf and Sydney and Melbourne Marathons on an infrequent basis. He is the male to have won the Sydney City to Surf four times in succession. On 25 July 2010, Moneghetti won the Park2Park 10 km race at Ipswich in Queensland, in 2014, he competed in the Oceania Masters Athletics Cross Country Championships hosted in Bendigo. Moneghetti won the event, completing the 8km race in 26,05, with fellow Australian M50 Michael Bieleny 2 minutes behind and he lit the cauldron in his hometown of Ballarat to celebrate the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. He was the Mayor of the Commonwealth Games Village at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games in 2006, in 2010 he was named as the Australian teams chef de mission for the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India. In 2014 he was nominated for an Order of Australia medal and was quoted to say Not bad for not winning a gold at Athens athletics. Moneghettis heritage can be traced to the Swiss Italians of Australia, Moneghetti appears in a feature film titled Reverse Runner
Steve Moneghetti
–
Steve Moneghetti
20.
Allen Johnson
–
Allen Kenneth Johnson is a retired American hurdling athlete who won the gold medal in the 110 metre hurdles at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. He is also a world champion. Born in Washington, D. C. an all-round athlete, Johnson attended University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and excelled at high jump, long jump and decathlon as well as hurdles. Johnson was troubled by injury in 2000 but still made the final at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, at the 2004 Summer Olympics he tripped over a hurdle in the 2nd preliminary round and was unable to finish the race and reach the final. He was however ranked worlds number 1 throughout 2004s season, Johnson was trained by Curtis Frye, at the University of South Carolina where he served as a volunteer assistant coach. Formerly, the sprint and hurdles coach at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, CO and his personal best is 12.92 seconds, only 0.01 seconds short of the then-world record held by Colin Jackson. Johnson has legally finished 11 races in less than 13 seconds, Johnson officially retired in July 2010, at the age of 39. Daughter, Tristine Johnson, competes as a 2014 senior at his alma mater University of North Carolina. S, olympic Team bio Allen Johnson profile at IAAF Curtain draws on career of 7-time World champion Johnson, article from IAAF
Allen Johnson
–
Johnson at 2007 ISTAF Berlin
21.
Colin Jackson
–
Colin Ray Jackson, CBE is a Welsh former sprint and hurdling athlete who specialised in the 110 metres hurdles. His world record of 12.91 seconds for the 110m hurdles stood for over a decade, Jackson won his first major medal, a silver, in the 110 m hurdles, at the age of nineteen at the 1986 Commonwealth Games. He soon established himself on the scene, taking bronze at the 1987 World Championships in Athletics. After winning another silver in the 60 metres hurdles at the 1989 IAAF World Indoor Championships, he won European and Commonwealth gold medals in 1990. The 1993 season saw him reach the pinnacle of his sport, after a silver at the 1993 Indoor Worlds and this mark was unbeaten for almost thirteen years and remains the world championship record. Jackson also helped the British 4×100 metres relay team to the silver medal. This period was perhaps Jacksons most successful – he had a streak of 44 races undefeated between 1993 and 1995, in addition to European and Commonwealth golds outdoors in 1994, he set another world record, running 7.30 seconds in the 60 m hurdles. A double gold at the 1994 European Athletics Indoor Championships in the 60 m hurdles, injury affected his 1995–1996 seasons and he finished only fourth at the 1996 Olympics. He returned to the podium in 1997 but took silver twice – behind Anier García at the Indoor World Championships. After winning the European Championships for a consecutive time in 1998 he became world champion indoors. He finished fifth at the 2000 Summer Olympics and his last major medals came in 2002, taking European indoor and outdoor gold, after a period of sports management and coaching, 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 entertainment and factual TV shows. Jackson, born in Cardiff, South Wales, is of Jamaican, Maroon, Taino and he is the brother of actress Suzanne Packer who played Tess Bateman in the BBC One hospital drama Casualty. Jackson grew up in Birchgrove, attending Birchgrove Primary School and then Llanedeyrn High School and he played football and cricket for the county and rugby union and basketball for his school and joined the athletics club Birchgrove Harriers, which nurtured his talent. Under coach and close friend Malcolm Arnold, Jackson started out as a promising decathlete before switching to high hurdles and 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 110m hurdles silver at the 1988 Olympic Games behind Roger Kingdom, in 1992 he was restricted by a minor injury and could only finish 7th, and in 1996 he came fourth and in 2000, fifth. He set his record for the 110 metres hurdles on 20 August 1993, winning his first World Championships gold medal in Stuttgart. The new mark shaved 0.88 s, however, Jackson remains sole holder of the indoor world record at the 60 metres hurdles with a time of 7.30 seconds set in Sindelfingen, Germany on 6 March 1994
Colin Jackson
–
Colin Jackson
Colin Jackson
–
Jackson at the 2007 European Cup
Colin Jackson
–
Jackson at the 2007 Highland Games
Colin Jackson
–
Jackson at a charity event in 2005
22.
Robert Korzeniowski
–
Robert Korzeniowski is a Polish former racewalker. He won four medals at the Summer Olympics and three at world championships. Korzeniowski is a winner of the 50 km walk at the Summer Olympics. He won 1996 in Atlanta,2000 in Sydney, and 2004 in Athens, in addition, he became the first athlete to claim both the long distance and the short distance crown, when he won the 20 km title at the 2000 games. Born in Lubaczów, Korzeniowski is the brother of fellow Olympic athlete and he won world championship titles in 1997,2001, and 2003. He won two times a European Championship in Budapest 1998 and in Munich 2002 and he is also the former world record holder in the 50 kilometers race. He retired after the 2004 Games and became involved in various roles at the International Olympic Committee. He was also the coach and mentor of former world record-holder Paquillo Fernández, since 2005 he worked for Polish Public Television as a chief of sport department and in 2007 he became a General Manager of TVP Sport, a new specialized channel in Poland. On 6 November 2009 he announced his resignation, for his sport achievements, Korzeniowski received the Order of Polonia Restituta, Knights Cross in 1996, Officers Cross in 2000, Commanders Cross in 2004. Polish records in athletics 2002 Race Walking Year Ranking Official website IOC tribute Robert Korzeniowski profile at IAAF
Robert Korzeniowski
–
Robert Korzeniowski
23.
Robert Esmie
–
Robert Esmie is a retired Canadian sprinter and member of the 1996 Summer Olympics Gold medal 4×100 m relay. He runs his sport training program need for speed, born in Jamaica and raised in Sudbury, Ontario, Esmie was part, along with Glenroy Gilbert, Bruny Surin and Donovan Bailey, of a 4×100 m relay team in the mid-1990s. They were number one in the world from 1994 to 1999, Esmie placed seventh in the second semi-final of the 100 m and won a bronze medal in the 4×100 m relay at the 1993 World Championships. At the 1994 Commonwealth Games, Esmie was a member of the gold medal team in the 4×100 m relay. Esmie won a medal in the 60 m at the 1995 World Indoor Championships and was again a member of gold medal-winning Canadian 4×100 m relay team at the 1995 World Championships. At the Atlanta Olympics the Canadian mens 4×100 relay team was not favored despite winning most high-profile titles in the three years, including the 1995 World Championships. Esmies gold medal was later stolen, Esmie and the Canadian team won a gold medal again from lane 8 at the 1997 World Championships. In 2008 he was inducted into Canadas Sports Hall of Fame as part of the 1996 Summer Olympics 4×100 relay team
Robert Esmie
–
Robert Esmie
24.
Bruny Surin
–
Bruny Surin is a Canadian track and field athlete, winner of a gold medal in the 4×100 metres relay at the 1996 Summer Olympics. In 2008 he was inducted into Canadas Sports Hall of Fame as part of the 1996 Summer Olympics 4x100 relay team, in the 100 metres, he has broken the 10-second barrier multiple times and holds a personal record of 9.84 seconds. Surin was born in Cap-Haïtien, Haïti, and moved to Canada with his family in 1975 and he made his debut for Canada at the 1987 Pan-American Games, placing fifteenth in the long jump, a result he repeated at the 1988 Olympics. After the Olympic Games in Seoul in 1988, manager Enrico Dionisi brought Surin to Siena, Barucci persuaded Surin away from his favoured long jump event, in favour of the 100 m. Barucci predicted he could run 10.10 seconds for the event, Surin won the following Canadian championships in 10.14 seconds. At the 1990 Commonwealth Games, Surin won a medal in 100 m and was seventh in the long jump. At the 1991 World Championships, Surin was eighth in the 100 m, at the 1993 World Championships, Surin was fifth in 100 m and won a bronze medal as a member of Canadian 4 ×100 m relay team. At the 1994 Commonwealth Games, Surin won the medal in 4 ×100 m relay and was eliminated in the semifinal of 100 m. At the 1995 World Championships, Surin won a medal in 100 m. However, in the 4 ×100 m relay final, the Canadian team beat United States by almost half a second, Surin also reached the semifinal of 100 m in the same competition. Surin and the Canadian team won a medal again at the 1997 World Championships. He was also seventh in 100 m at the 1997 World Championships and his time matched Donovan Baileys Canadian record of 9.84. At the time, this was the fastest losing time in a 100 m race and his last major championship race was in the semifinals of the 100 m at the 2001 World Championships, where he injured himself again and was pushed off the track in a wheelchair. In 2009, Surin became the new Canadian 50 metres record holder with a time of 6. 15s at the McGill Open, in 2016, he was made a Knight of the National Order of Quebec. In 2009, a biography cowritten by Bruni Surin and Saïd Khalil entitled Bruny Surin, the book covers Bruny Surin recounting 17 years of his sports career. In the book, Surin criticizes doping, describing it as a gangrene that ails athletics and his father lost his family in the 2010 Haiti earthquake. His oldest daughter is a tennis player and attends Penn State. His youngest daughter is a track and field athlete and recently committed to University of Connecticut
Bruny Surin
–
First edition cover
25.
Francis Obikwelu
–
Francis Obiorah Obikwelu, GOIH is a Nigerian born Portuguese sprinter specializing in 100 metres and 200 metres. He obtained Portuguese citizenship in 2001 and he is the 2004 Olympic silver medalist in the 100 metres. From that race, he set the European record in the event at 9.86. Born in Onitsha, Obikwelu holds the record for the fastest time in the 100 m set by a European competitor with a time of 9.86 seconds. He finished second in the 100 m at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, the first medal ever in athletics sprinting events for Portugal. He won 100 m and 200 m in 2006 at the European Championships in Athletics, kim Gevaert also succeeded in this double victory at the same Championship. Obikwelu was voted Waterford Crystal European Male Athlete of the Year for 2006 by the European Athletic Association, in an internet poll open to member federations, media, Obikwelu won the 100 m gold medal at the 2009 Lusophony Games. At the age of 14, one of Obikwelus football coaches in Nigeria noticed him, after two years he was representing Nigeria in the 1994 African Junior Championships and won the silver medal in the 400 metres. He based himself in Lisbon, Portugal, as a 16-year-old, after being rejected by both Sport Lisboa e Benfica and Sporting Clube de Portugal, he worked for a while as a construction worker in the Algarve. He decided to learn Portuguese, and his teacher put him in contact with Belenenses, while living in Portugal, Francis was adopted by a lady who he now proudly refers to as his mother. He then made a decision to run for Portugal, the news was broken in July 2000 by Nigerian sprinter Mercy Nku, who like Obikwelu is based in Lisbon. She said Obikwelu took the decision because of neglect by Nigerian sports officials when he was injured while representing Nigeria in Sydney and he had to go to Canada to undergo an operation on his knee spending his own money. He became a Portuguese citizen in October 2001 and he currently competes for Sporting Clube de Portugal. In the qualifiers he was one of the most impressive runners and he finished fifth in the 200m. Grand Cross of the Order of Prince Henry Francis Obikwelu profile at IAAF
Francis Obikwelu
–
Obikwelu in 2011
26.
United Kingdom
–
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
United Kingdom
–
Stonehenge, in
Wiltshire, was erected around 2500 BC.
United Kingdom
–
Flag
United Kingdom
–
The
Bayeux Tapestry depicts the
Battle of Hastings, 1066, and the events leading to it.
United Kingdom
–
The
Treaty of Union led to a single united kingdom encompassing all Great Britain.
27.
Darren Campbell
–
Darren Andrew Campbell, MBE is a British former sprint athlete. He is currently the sprint coach at Cardiff City F. C and he competed in the 100 metres and 200 metres, as well as the 4 ×100 metres relay. Campbell is the European record holder in the event with 37.73 seconds. Campbell was a junior athlete and won a number of medals at the World. He spent two years away from athletics, playing football but returned in 1995, attending his first Olympics shortly afterwards. Success also came in the events, he became the 1998 European Champion in the 100 m and won his first Olympic medal. In the 100 m he won silver at the 2002 European Championships and was the 2003 World Championships bronze medallist. Campbell formed part of perhaps Britains most successful relay team – they won in the European Cup in 1999 and 2000, at the 2002 Commonwealth Games and he won his last medal in 2006, again taking the relay gold at the European Championships, and he retired shortly afterwards. His personal bests of 10.04 s in the 100 m and 20 and he now works with various Premier League football clubs, working with the players to improve their sprinting ability. Campbell was an athlete and footballer in his youth. A year later, he won medals at the 1992 World Junior Championships, in the sprint double. He was beaten both times by Ato Boldon, who became the first athlete to win a double at the championships and his senior international debut came at the Stuttgart World Championships in 1993, as part of the 4 ×100 m squad. During a debate on TalkSPORT on 14 August 2006, Campbell stated this period away from athletics had also spurred on by attempts by certain individuals to draw him into a drugs programme. Campbell returned to athletics in 1995, and ran the 100 m in 10. 34sec that year, the following year, he improved his 100 m time to 10. 17sec, and represented Britain in the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, United States. Campbell only represented Britain in the 4 ×100 m relay, at the 1997 World Championships, Campbell won his first major senior medal - a bronze in the 4 ×100 m relay, and by this time was a regular feature in the British squad. Campbells first senior gold medals came at the 1998 European Championships in Budapest, Campbell won the 100 m individual event, setting his best time at the 100 m in the final -10. 13sec, and also winning gold in the 4 ×100 m relay. At the Commonwealth Games that year, Campbell helped break the record for the 4 ×100 m relay. However, he won no individual medals, the following year, in the 1999 World Championships, held in Seville, Campbell won the silver medal in the 4 ×100 m relay, but was eliminated from his individual event in the semi-finals
Darren Campbell
–
Darren Campbell in 2009
28.
Marlon Devonish
–
Marlon Ronald Devonish, MBE is an English former sprinter who competed in the 100 metres and 200 metres. Devonish attended Caludon Castle School in Coventry and he is a member of the Coventry Godiva Harriers athletics club and is coached by Tony Lester. He was also a member of both the British and, at the Commonwealth Games, English 4 x 100-metre sprint relay teams. He is a current Commonwealth Games record holder in the relay event, the most notable achievement of his career came at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. At the British Championships in July 2006, Devonish became the first man since Linford Christie in 1988 to win both the 100 m and 200 m races at the event, at the championship finals, he took the bronze medal in the 200 m. Devonish retained his 100 m title at the British Championships the following year, Devonish finished 6th in the 100 m final. Devonish represented Great Britain at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing and he competed at the 4x100 metres relay together with Simeon Williamson, Tyrone Edgar and Craig Pickering. In their qualification heat they were disqualified and eliminated and he also took part in the 200 metres individual, finishing first with a time of 20.49 seconds in his first round heat. With 20.43 seconds in his second round he placed fourth in his heat. There he came to 20.57 seconds and the time in his race. He competed at the 2009 Manchester City Games, finishing second in the 150 metres final in 15.07 seconds and he was beaten by Usain Bolt who ran a world best-beating time. On 22 August 2009, Devonish was a member of the Great Britain, harry Aikines-Aryeetey, Simeon Williamson and Tyrone Edgar ran the other legs. On 16 July 2013, Devonish was bought in as sprint coach at Kingsholm Stadium, Marlon Devonish profile at IAAF Marlon hails sprint revival – BBC. co. uk,29 August 2004
Marlon Devonish
–
Devonish at the
2005 World Championships in Helsinki
Marlon Devonish
–
Devonish (right) in the starting blocks before the 150 metres race at the Manchester City Games.
29.
Dwain Chambers
–
Dwain Anthony Chambers is a British track sprinter. He has won medals at World and European level and is one of the fastest European sprinters in the history of athletics. His primary event is the 100 metres, in which he has the fourth fastest time by a British sprinter and he is the European record holder for the 60 metres and 4×100 metres relay events with 6.42 seconds and 37.73 s respectively. He received a two-year athletics ban in 2003 after testing positive for THG, Chambers ran a 100 m world junior record of 10.06 s in 1997 and became the youngest ever world medallist in the event at the 1999 World Championships, taking the bronze. On his Olympic debut at the 2000 Sydney Olympics he was the best European performer in fourth place and he broke the 10-second barrier twice at the 2001 World Championships. He began using performance-enhancing drugs in 2002 and he was stripped of the 100 m European title. Chambers returned to competition in June 2006, and won gold with his teammates in the 4×100 m at the 2006 European Championships and he tried other sports, including a spell with the Hamburg Sea Devils of the NFL Europa league and a rugby league trial with Castleford. Sprinting success came over 60 m when he won silver at the 2008 World Indoor Championships, gold at the 2009 European Indoors, and became world champion at the 2010 World Indoor Championships. Due to his ban, he was barred from the Olympics, Commonwealth Games. The Court of Arbitration for Sport overturned his lifetime Olympic ban, deeming it non-compliant with the World Anti-Doping Code and he produced a ghost-written autobiography with writer Ken Scott, Race Against Me, in 2009. He is of Afro-Caribbean- Jamaican descent and has two sons with his partner Leonie Daley, Chambers was born in Islington and raised in Finsbury Park, London. As a schoolboy he was coached by Selwyn Philbert who devoted himself to the young sprinter, Chambers first athletic success came at the 1994 English Schools Athletic Association Championships, where he won the boys intermediate 100 m race with a time of 10.64 seconds. International medals followed at the 1995 European Junior Championships, at which he won the 100 m and he defended these titles at the 1997 European Junior Championships and set a then world junior record in the 100 m with a time of 10.06 s. Chambers transitioned into the ranks soon after, taking the 100 m silver medal behind his British teammate Darren Campbell at the 1998 European Championships. He achieved a new personal best in September at the 1998 IAAF World Cup with a run of 10.03 s for third place, at the 1998 Commonwealth Games he was a 100 m semi finalist and set a games record as part of the 4×100 m relay team. His ability attracted the attention of former sprinter and Commonwealth Games gold medallist Mike McFarlane, who became his coach. He came first in the 100 m in the 1999 European Cup, fellow British sprinter Jason Gardener scored a time of 9.98 s in Lausanne soon after, becoming the third Briton to break the barrier. In spite of this, Chambers remained some distance behind his North American counterparts
Dwain Chambers
–
Chambers in 2008
Dwain Chambers
–
Chambers racing against British competition in 2008.
Dwain Chambers
–
Chambers (second from left), competing in the 2008 Olympic Trials, Birmingham
Dwain Chambers
–
Chambers competing in the
2009 European Team Championships
30.
Iwan Thomas
–
Iwan Gwyn Thomas, MBE is a Welsh sprinter who represented Great Britain and Northern Ireland at the Olympic Games in the 400 metres, and Wales at the Commonwealth Games. Thomas is a former European and Commonwealth Games champion, thomass coach for much of his running career was Mike Smith, formerly coach to British 400 m runners Roger Black, Todd Bennett and Paul Harmsworth also hurdler Kriss Akabusi. Thomas was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1998 and his initial athletics breakthrough came at the World Junior Championships in 1992 as part of the British 4x400 metres relay team that finished fifth. Thomas attended Stamford School and West London Institute of Higher Education, while still at university, he took part in the 1994 Commonwealth Games 400 m where he reached the semi-finals, representing Wales. From there, he was selected to represent Britain in the relay at the 1995 European Cup, at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Thomas finished 5th in the final and took a silver medal in the 4 ×400 m event. He also represented Britain in the 2000 Olympics but was not selected for the event and despite running the fastest leg for the British team. Thomas was a member of the Great Britain 4 ×400 m team at the 1997 World Championships in Athletics in Athens, the team finished second by 0.18 seconds to the United States. On 7 January 2010 it was announced that Great Britains 1997 World Championship 4 ×400 m relay team were to be awarded the medal they were denied by the disqualified USA team. New medals were minted for the ceremony, as not all of the American quartet returned the originals, Thomas received his gold medal in May 2010 in a presentation by Alun Ffred Jones at Cardiff Bay. Thomas career was hampered by injury including a fracture to his ankle in 1999 that required telescopic surgery. He was again injured in 2003 with damage to his Achilles, further injury in 2004 ruled him out of the 2004 Olympic Games. Thomas was selected in 2006 for the Welsh team for the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia, Iwan never officially retired from athletics but took the opportunity to do so when offered by Andy Goldstein on 3 July 2012 edition of the Andy Goldstiens Sports Bar on TalkSPORT. His father was born to Welsh-born parents in Middlesex, whilst his mothers Welsh language speaking family were centred around the village of Llandderfel, Iwan Thomas was born in Farnborough then in Kent, and now lives in Southampton. After winning Deadline, he himself a Ducati 1098 motorcycle. Although a lifelong supporter of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club and he is a regular panelist on BBC Twos Through The Keyhole, was a contestant on Superstars on both BBC One and Five and took part in BBC Ones Hole In The Wall. He has also been a contestant on BBC Ones Celebrity MasterChef, Thomas can also be seen as a regular guest of Channel 5s The Wright Stuff. On 18 July 2008 Thomas admitted that he fell asleep on live TV after having a few sneaky beers in the Green Room before the show. He was not specific about the programme but did admit that the presenter was Eamonn Holmes and he starred in Daily Cooks Challenge as a judge alongside presenter Antony Worrall Thompson
Iwan Thomas
–
Thomas being interviewed in London in 2011
Iwan Thomas
–
Iwan Thomas being interviewed after lighting the Olympic cauldron in Cambridge during the
2012 Summer Olympics torch relay.
31.
Roger Black
–
Roger Anthony Black MBE is a retired British athlete. Since retiring from athletics, he has worked as a television presenter, in 2008, Black joined forces with fellow athlete Steve Backley and operate BackleyBlack LLP delivering Olympic Performance in the Workplace. Black has a collection of fifteen medals from major senior competitions to add to his two European junior championship gold medals. He was born in Gosport, Hampshire, to David and Thelma and he attended Alverstoke Church of England Primary School and Portsmouth Grammar School, becoming Head Boy in 1983/84. It was whilst playing football with a team that he began demonstrating his prowess as a runner. Black rose to prominence in 1985 when he won the European Junior Championships 400m in a time of 45.43 at the age of 19. Having also won golds in both 4x400m relays at both of those events as well, Blacks 1986 season had turned into a rush of four gold medals. His next three seasons were wiped out through illness and injuries and he only just made the team for the 1987 World Championships in Rome. He returned to the track in 1990 and his form took him to the European Championships again. Black contested the 400m final and retained his title with a time of 45.11, holding off his old rival Thomas Schonlebe. He then anchored the GB team to an easy 4x400m victory winning by a margin of 15 metres, and he thus achieved a rare double-double - two gold medals at consecutive championships. Blacks outstanding 1990 season was followed by the 1991 World Championship season holding much expectation and his early season form at Crystal Palace saw him beat Olympic Champion Steve Lewis and Antonio Pettigrew but to only lose to a new athlete called Michael Johnson. Johnson would not contest the 400m at the World Championships meaning the 400m would be a contest between Black, Pettigrew and Danny Everett as the main contenders, Black finished second in the individual 400m in Tokyo to Antonio Pettigrew. Black put in his effort on the third 100m and entered the home straight two metres up on Pettigrew and he then tired and was caught on the line. Pettigrews time was 44.57 and Black finished in 44.62, Everett also nearly caught Black on the line, his time was 44.63. Pettigrew later admitted the use of performance-enhancing drugs from 1997 onwards in June 2008, no clear evidence has emerged, and Pettigrew never admitted anything further before his 2010 suicide, of him using performance-enhancing drugs during the 1991 season. In the final event of the Tokyo Championships, the mens 4 x 400 relay was billed as a two-way contest between the Great Britain team and the United States team. In an unusual change of tactics, the GB team members decided to put Black on the leg, followed by Redmond, then John Regis and, on anchor
Roger Black
–
Black in 2011
32.
Jamaica
–
Jamaica is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea, consisting of the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles. The island,10,990 square kilometres in area, lies about 145 kilometres south of Cuba, Jamaica is the fourth-largest island country in the Caribbean, by area. Inhabited by the indigenous Arawak and Taíno peoples, the island came under Spanish rule following the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1494, Many of the indigenous people died of disease, and the Spanish imported African slaves as labourers. Named Santiago, the island remained a possession of Spain until 1655, under British colonial rule Jamaica became a leading sugar exporter, with its plantation economy highly dependent on slaves imported from Africa. The British fully emancipated all slaves in 1838, and many chose to have subsistence farms rather than to work on plantations. Beginning in the 1840s, the British imported Chinese and Indian indentured labour to work on plantations, the island achieved independence from the United Kingdom on 6 August 1962. With 2.8 million people, Jamaica is the third-most populous Anglophone country in the Americas, Kingston is the countrys capital and largest city, with a population of 937,700. Jamaicans predominately have African ancestry, with significant European, Chinese, Hakka, Indian, due to a high rate of emigration for work since the 1960s, Jamaica has a large diaspora around the world, particularly in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Jamaica is a Commonwealth realm, with Queen Elizabeth II as its monarch and her appointed representative in the country is the Governor-General of Jamaica, an office held by Sir Patrick Allen since 2009. Andrew Holness has served as the head of government and Prime Minister of Jamaica from March 2016, the indigenous people, the Taíno, called it Xaymaca in Arawakan, meaning the Land of Wood and Water or the Land of Springs. Colloquially Jamaicans refer to their island as the Rock. Slang names such as Jamrock, Jamdown, or briefly Ja, have derived from this, the Arawak and Taíno indigenous people, originating in South America, settled on the island between 4000 and 1000 BC. When Christopher Columbus arrived in 1494, there were more than 200 villages ruled by caciques, the south coast of Jamaica was the most populated, especially around the area now known as Old Harbour. The Taino still inhabited Jamaica when the English took control of the island in 1655, the Jamaican National Heritage Trust is attempting to locate and document any evidence of the Taino/Arawak. Christopher Columbus claimed Jamaica for Spain after landing there in 1494 and his probable landing point was Dry Harbour, now called Discovery Bay, although there is some debate that it might have been St. Anns Bay. St. Anns Bay was named Saint Gloria by Columbus, as the first sighting of the land, the capital was moved to Spanish Town, then called St. Jago de la Vega, around 1534. Spanish Town has the oldest cathedral of the British colonies in the Caribbean, the Spanish were forcibly evicted by the English at Ocho Rios in St. Ann. In 1655, the English, led by Sir William Penn and General Robert Venables, the English continued to import African slaves as labourers
Jamaica
–
Henry Morgan was a famous
Caribbean pirate and privateer; he had first come to the West Indies as an indentured servant, like most of the early English colonists.
Jamaica
Jamaica
–
Prince Charles and the
Duchess of Cornwall during a visit to Jamaica in 2008.
Jamaica
–
Inside the
Jamaican Parliament.
33.
Poland
–
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe, situated between the Baltic Sea in the north and two mountain ranges in the south. Bordered by Germany to the west, the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south, Ukraine and Belarus to the east, the total area of Poland is 312,679 square kilometres, making it the 69th largest country in the world and the 9th largest in Europe. With a population of over 38.5 million people, Poland is the 34th most populous country in the world, the 8th most populous country in Europe, Poland is a unitary state divided into 16 administrative subdivisions, and its capital and largest city is Warsaw. Other metropolises include Kraków, Wrocław, Poznań, Gdańsk and Szczecin, the establishment of a Polish state can be traced back to 966, when Mieszko I, ruler of a territory roughly coextensive with that of present-day Poland, converted to Christianity. The Kingdom of Poland was founded in 1025, and in 1569 it cemented a political association with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania by signing the Union of Lublin. This union formed the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, one of the largest and most populous countries of 16th and 17th century Europe, Poland regained its independence in 1918 at the end of World War I, reconstituting much of its historical territory as the Second Polish Republic. In September 1939, World War II started with the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany, followed thereafter by invasion by the Soviet Union. More than six million Polish citizens died in the war, after the war, Polands borders were shifted westwards under the terms of the Potsdam Conference. With the backing of the Soviet Union, a communist puppet government was formed, and after a referendum in 1946. During the Revolutions of 1989 Polands Communist government was overthrown and Poland adopted a new constitution establishing itself as a democracy, informally called the Third Polish Republic. Since the early 1990s, when the transition to a primarily market-based economy began, Poland has achieved a high ranking on the Human Development Index. Poland is a country, which was categorised by the World Bank as having a high-income economy. Furthermore, it is visited by approximately 16 million tourists every year, Poland is the eighth largest economy in the European Union and was the 6th fastest growing economy on the continent between 2010 and 2015. According to the Global Peace Index for 2014, Poland is ranked 19th in the list of the safest countries in the world to live in. The origin of the name Poland derives from a West Slavic tribe of Polans that inhabited the Warta River basin of the historic Greater Poland region in the 8th century, the origin of the name Polanie itself derives from the western Slavic word pole. In some foreign languages such as Hungarian, Lithuanian, Persian and Turkish the exonym for Poland is Lechites, historians have postulated that throughout Late Antiquity, many distinct ethnic groups populated the regions of what is now Poland. The most famous archaeological find from the prehistory and protohistory of Poland is the Biskupin fortified settlement, dating from the Lusatian culture of the early Iron Age, the Slavic groups who would form Poland migrated to these areas in the second half of the 5th century AD. With the Baptism of Poland the Polish rulers accepted Christianity and the authority of the Roman Church
Poland
–
Reconstruction of a
Bronze Age,
Lusatian culture settlement in
Biskupin, c. 700 BC
Poland
–
Flag
Poland
–
Earliest known contemporary depiction of a Polish ruler; King
Mieszko II Lambert of Poland being presented with a
Liturgical book by
Matilda of Swabia, 1025–1031
Poland
–
Drawing of the
Battle of Grunwald, which was fought against the
German Order of Teutonic Knights, 15 July 1410
34.
Javier Sotomayor
–
Javier Sotomayor Sanabria is a Cuban former track and field athlete, who specialized in the high jump and is the current world record holder. The 1992 Olympic champion, he was the dominant high jumper of the 1990s and he was a two-time gold medallist at the IAAF World Championships in Athletics and also won two silver medals at the competition. At the IAAF World Indoor Championships he won four gold medals between 1989 and 1999, in addition, he won three straight titles at the Pan American Games from 1987 to 1995. He is regarded as the best high jumper of all time, Cuban boycotts of the Olympics in 1984 and 1988 and an injury in 1996 cost him chances at additional Olympic medals, but he returned to win the silver medal at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. Sotomayor was born October 13,1967 in Limonar, Matanzas Province, the son of a day-care worker and a sugar factory maintenance man, Sotomayor was first sent to a Cuban sports school as a prospective basketball player because of his height. At age 14, coaches made him a high jumper, by 19, he was ranked No.5 in the world. Sotomayor listed his competition weight at 82 kilograms, Sotomayor is engaged to Amaya Gonzalez, sharing private and professional life. One of his sons, Javier Sotomayor García, has competed in the high jump. Sotomayor was only 15 when he first cleared 2 meters and by the end of 1983 he had a best of 2.15 m and he then set the junior world record on 19 May 1984 by clearing 2.33 metres at a meet held in Havana. He was not able to go to Los Angeles, California for the 1984 Olympics due to the boycott by Cuba and he continued to improve the following year with a best jump of 2.36 m at a meet in Santiago de Cuba on 23 February 1986. He won his first international title in 1987, at the Pan American Games, and established a new personal best of 2.37 m at a meet in Athens, Greece on 20 June 1987. On 8 September 1988, at a meet held in Salamanca, however, Sotomayor was again denied the chance to compete in the Olympics in Seoul due to another Cuban boycott of the Olympics. Sotomayors leap of 2.43 broke, by one centimeter, the July 1989 record of 2.44 m, which he cleared on his second attempt, was a historic jump for Imperial-measure fans, as that was the first jump over 8 feet. After setting the record at 2.44 m in July 1989 and he missed much of the 1990 outdoor season after surgery to remove scar tissue in his knee and heel. Competing before an adoring Cuban public at the Pan American Games in Havana on Saturday 10 August 1991, Sotomayor defeated his rival, American Hollis Conway. Afterwards he said, My physical condition is better, but psychologically I am not well prepared, after setting the record in Salamanca, Sotomayor told reporters, I wanted to set the record here because it is a small city in which I feel like I am in Cuba. The people recognize me in the street and ask how Im doing, Sotomayor set the current world indoor record of 2.43 metres on March 4,1989 in Budapest. He broke the record during the 1989 IAAF World Indoor Championships, germanys Carlo Thranhardt, who had set the indoor record of 2.42 m one year earlier in Berlin, finished fifth at Budapest with a jump of 2.33 m
Javier Sotomayor
–
Sotomayor in 2009
Javier Sotomayor
–
Javier Sotomayor
35.
Artur Partyka
–
Artur Jerzy Partyka is a former Polish high jumper and two-time Olympic medalist. He won twelve national titles in a row, starting in 1989 and his father is Algerian, his mother is Polish. He was one of the leading high jumpers of the 1990s, Partyka is one of only 21 competitors to clear the height of 2.38 metres or more. With that height he set the Polish record in high jump and he won the bronze medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona and the silver medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. He was also a three-time medalist at the outdoor World Championships, a silver medalist. He was also a silver medalist at the indoor World Championships in 1991 and he also won two medals at the outdoor European Championships, silver in 1994 and gold in 1998. He won the medal at the indoor European Championships in 1998. For his sport achievements, he received the Golden Cross of Merit in 1996, Partyka has been the director of the indoor Pedros Cup in 2007,2008, and 2009, a meet that takes place in Bydgoszcz. The competition was limited only to high jumpers and pole vaulters, Polish records in athletics Artur Partyka profile at IAAF Profile on Polish Olympic Committee
Artur Partyka
–
Partyka in 2009
36.
Sergey Bubka
–
Serhiy Nazarovych Bubka is a Ukrainian former pole vaulter. He represented the Soviet Union until its dissolution in 1991, Bubka won six consecutive IAAF World Championships, an Olympic gold medal and broke the world record for mens pole vault 35 times. Sergey has also beaten his own record 14 times and he was the first pole vaulter to clear 6.0 metres and 6.10 metres. Bubka is Senior Vice President of the International Association of Athletics Federations, serving since 2007 and he is also an Honorary Member of the International Olympic Committee, having been involved since 1996. Born in Voroshilovgrad, Bubka was an athlete in the 100-meter dash and the long jump. In 1983, virtually unknown internationally, he won the championship in Helsinki, Finland. Until the dissolution of the USSR in late 1991, Bubka competed for Soviet teams, the Soviet sports system rewarded athletes for setting new world records, and he became noted for establishing new records by slim amounts, sometimes as little as a centimeter higher. This allowed him to collect frequent bonus payments and made Bubka an attraction at track-and-field meets, by 1992, he was no longer bound to the Soviet system, and signed a contract with Nike that rewarded each world record performance with special bonuses of $40,000. He has a son who is a tennis player, whose name is also Sergei. Sergey Bubka started competing on the athletics scene in 1981 when he participated in the European Junior Championship finishing seventh. But the 1983 World Championship held in Helsinki was his actual entry point to the world athletics, the years that followed witnessed the unparalleled dominance of Bubka, with him setting new records and standards in pole vaulting. He set his first world record of 5. 85m on 26 May 1984 which he improved to 5. 88m a week later and he cleared 6.00 metres for the first time on 13 July 1985 in Paris. This height had long been considered unattainable, with virtually no opponents, Bubka improved his own record over the next 10 years until he reached his career best and the then world record of 6.14 m in 1994. He became the first athlete ever to jump over 6.10 metres, in San Sebastián, until January 2014, no other athlete on earth had cleared 6.07, indoors or outdoors. In 1994, he achieved his record with a vault of 6.14 meters. Bubka increased the record by 21 centimetres in the period from 1984 to 1988. He cleared 6.00 meters or better on 45 occasions, as of June 2015,6 meters had been cleared by all athletes worldwide exactly 100 times. Bubka officially retired from pole vault in 2001 during a ceremony at his Pole Vault Stars meeting in Donetsk, despite his dominance in pole vault, Bubka had a relatively poor record in the Olympic Games
Sergey Bubka
–
Sergey Bubka in 2013
Sergey Bubka
–
Serhiy Bubka statue,
Donetsk
Sergey Bubka
–
Bubka (right) at the 2014 IAAF Council Meeting
37.
Jonathan Edwards (athlete)
–
Jonathan David Edwards, CBE is a former triple jumper. He is a former Olympic, World, Commonwealth and European champion, following his retirement as an athlete, Edwards has worked as a sports commentator and presenter for BBC television. Formerly a devout Christian, he also presented episodes of the BBC Christian worship programme Songs of Praise, in 2011 he was elected President of Wenlock Olympian Society following the death of its then President, Roy Rogers. He was a member of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games for the 2012 games, Edwards attended West Buckland School where his potential for the triple jump was spotted at an early age. He was a strong all-rounder and on leaving received the top award for sporting and academic excellence. Contemporaries with Edwards at West Buckland School included Victor Ubogu and Steve Ojomoh, Edwards now has a Sports Hall at West Buckland named after him, The Jonathan Edwards Sports Centre. Edwards then read Physics at Durham University, attending Van Mildert College, due to his strong Christian beliefs during his athletic career, discussed in more detail below, he initially refused to compete on Sundays, but eventually decided to do so in 1993. This decision proved timely, since the round at that years World Championships took place on a Sunday. He went on to win the bronze medal, in his breakthrough year of 1995, Edwards produced a jump of 18.43 m at the European Cup. On his first jump, he became the first man to pass the 18-metre barrier with a jump of 18.16 m. That record lasted for about 20 minutes and his second jump of 18.29 m made him the first to jump 60 feet. During his commentary for the 2008 Summer Olympics, Edwards observed that during the 1995 World Championships, later the same year Edwards became the BBC Sports Personality of the Year. He also won golds at the 2001 World Championships and 2002 Commonwealth Games, at one point in 2002, Edwards held all the gold medals for the four majors. He retired after the 2003 World Championships as Great Britains most successful medal winning athlete, Edwards regularly presents BBC coverage of athletics. When he is not presenting coverage, Edwards often provides expert analysis on events as part of the BBC commentary team. He also covered the 2014 Winter Olympics for the BBC and the 2014 Winter Paralympics for Channel 4, Edwards also served as a presenter for the Olympic Announcement ceremonies during the IOC sessions in Guatemala in 2007 and Copenhagen in 2009. In 2004, Edwards joined with Paula Radcliffe on an Olympic Special Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, the pair raised £64,000 for charity with half of that sum going to the British Olympic Association and a quarter of the sum going to Asthma UK. He was a member of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, representing athletes in the organisation of the 2012 Summer Olympics
Jonathan Edwards (athlete)
–
Edwards at the 2000 Olympics
Jonathan Edwards (athlete)
–
Jonathan Edwards at the University of Ulster Winter Graduation Ceremony, Tuesday, 19 December 2006
38.
Virgilijus Alekna
–
Virgilijus Alekna is a Lithuanian former discus thrower and politician. He won medals at the 2000,2004 and 2008 Olympics, after retiring from athletics, Alekna was elected to the national parliament, the Seimas, in 2016. Alekna has won two medals in the Summer Olympics in the discus throw, the first was in 2000. He also won the medal at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics. In 2007, he was appointed as UNESCO Champion for Sport and his personal record is 73.88 meters, surpassed only by the world record. Alekna was awarded the title of the Athlete of the Year for 2000 by Track and he was also awarded the Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas by the government of Lithuania. He became the Lithuanian Sportsman of the Year 4 times, since 1995 Alekna has served as a bodyguard of the Lithuanian Prime Minister. He is married to former long jumper Kristina Sablovskytė-Aleknienė and has two sons named Martynas and Mykolas. At a height of 2.00 m, Alekna has an unusually long armspan, measured 2. 22m and he can make fingerprints on windows of two opposite sides of a bus simultaneously. During the 2007 World Championship Virgilijus Alekna competed with an injury, in May 2016, Alekna announced he would participate in the elections to the Seimas the following October on the electoral list of the opposition Liberal Movement, without joining the party. He lost the run-off in Naujamiestis single-member constituency, but was elected to the Twelfth Seimas through the electoral list of the party, Virgilijus Alekna profile at IAAF ALEKNA biography rzutyiskoki. pl
Virgilijus Alekna
–
Virgilijus Alekna at 2014 Lithuanian Championships in Athletics
Virgilijus Alekna
–
Alekna at his eighth World Championships in 2009, Berlin.
39.
Marion Jones
–
Marion Lois Jones, also known as Marion Jones-Thompson, is an American former world champion track and field athlete and a former professional basketball player for Tulsa Shock in the WNBA. She won three medals and two bronze medals at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia, but was later stripped of the titles after admitting to steroid use. Jones did retain her three gold medals as a champion from 1997 and 1999. At the time of her admission and subsequent guilty plea, Marion Jones was one of the most famous athletes to be linked to the BALCO scandal. The case against BALCO covered more than 20 top level athletes, including Joness ex-husband, shot putter C. J. Hunter, and 100 m sprinter Tim Montgomery, Marion Jones was born to African-American George Jones and his Belizean wife, Marion, in Los Angeles, California. She holds dual citizenship with the United States and Belize and her parents split when she was very young, and Joness mother remarried a retired postal worker, Ira Toler, three years later. Toler became a dad to Jones and her older half-brother, Albert Kelly. Jones turned to sports as an outlet for her grief, running, pickup basketball games, by the age of 15 she was routinely dominating California high school athletics both on the track and the basketball court. Jones is a 1997 graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, while there, she met and began dating one of the track coaches, shot putter C. J. Hunter. Hunter voluntarily resigned his position at UNC to comply with the requirements of university rules prohibiting coach–athlete dating, Jones and Hunter were married October 3,1998, and trained for the Sydney 2000 Summer Olympics. In the run-up to the 2000 Olympics, Jones declared that she intended to win medals in all five of her competition events at Sydney. Joness husband, C. J. Hunter, had withdrawn from the competition for a knee injury, though he was allowed to keep his coaching credentials. Hunter was immediately suspended from taking any role at the Sydney games, as late as 2004, Hunter was still denying the charges and was attempting to gain access to the results to see if they could be analyzed further. Jones would later write in her autobiography, Marion Jones, Life in the Fast Lane, on June 28,2003, Jones gave birth to a son with then-boyfriend Tim Montgomery, a world class sprinter himself. Because of her pregnancy, Jones missed the 2003 World Championships, on February 24,2007, Jones married Barbadian sprinter and 2000 Olympic 100m bronze medalist Obadele Thompson. Their first child together, a son named Ahmir, was born in June 2007 and she gave birth to daughter Eva-Marie on June 28,2009. In 2010, Jones released a book, On the Right Track, From Olympic Downfall to Finding Forgiveness and the Strength to Overcome and Succeed, published by Simon & Schuster. In high school, Jones won the CIF California State Meet in the 100 m sprint four years in a row and she was successfully defended by attorney Johnnie Cochran on charges of doping during her high school track career
Marion Jones
–
Jones in 2004
Marion Jones
–
Marion Jones (far left) during the
1999 World Championships
Marion Jones
–
Jones running at the 2006
Meeting Gaz de France in Paris
Marion Jones
–
Federal Medical Center, Carswell, where Jones was incarcerated
40.
Zhanna Block
–
Zhanna Pintusevich-Block is a retired Ukrainian world champion sprinter who has competed in the Olympic Games. Zhanna Pintusevich-Block comes from a Jewish family and she was born in Nizhyn, Ukraine. In 1991, Block won the 100 metres and 200 metres at the European Junior Championships and she was 1997 World 200m Champion and 2001 World 100m champion. She also won 2 World silvers and 3 European silvers in the sprints, Block was identified by Victor Conte as allegedly having taken illegal performance-enhancing drugs supplied by Conte in the BALCO scandal. In 2011 she was handed a two-year ban from sports for doping and her husband and coach, Mark Block, was given a 10-year ban from sport for supplying his wife with performance-enhancing drugs. She took part in the 100 and 200 metres races at both the 1996 Summer Olympics and the 2000 Summer Olympics, reaching the final three times and she also took part in the 100 m and 4 x 100 metres relay at the 2004 Olympics. However, she failed to progress to the finals and she has never won an Olympic medal but she managed to finish in fourth place in the 100 m final in Sydney. Her 100 metres personal best time of 10.82 seconds was set in Edmonton, Alberta and she has been married to her coach, Mark Block, since 1999. Block posed nude in the September 2004 edition of Playboy in a Women of the Olympics feature, list of select Jewish track and field athletes Zhanna Pintusevych-Blok
Zhanna Block
–
Zhanna Pintusevich-Block
41.
Susanthika Jayasinghe
–
Deshabandu Susanthika Jayasinghe is a Sri Lankan sprint athlete specializing in the 100 and 200 metres. She also won two medals at the 2007 Asian Athletics Championships and a bronze medal at the 2007 IAAF World Championships. She is known as the Asian Black Mare, Jayasinghe won silver in the 200 m race at the 1997 World Championships and then travelled to the United States of America to train for the 2000 Summer Olympics. On October 5,2007, Jones admitted to having taken performance-enhancing drugs prior to the Olympics, Jayasinghe was suspended from competition in April 1998 for failing a drug test that she claimed was rigged because of her political beliefs and a falling out with a Sports Ministry official. She was later cleared of the offense, during a press conference for the womens 200m medalists at the 2000 Olympics, when asked whether her country would be proud of her, she said in a quiet voice, I cant explain. They give me, trouble, trouble, trouble and she then went on to speak of officials coming to her house, giving her a drug test and refusing to seal the urine specimen with her watching. She refused to sign the release, later they told her she had tested positive for nandrolone. By the time she was cleared, she was no longer welcome by her countrys sporting establishment, after returning home with her Olympic medal she was attacked by a male athlete because, she believed, she had been supporting former government members in an election campaign. However, after her medal achievement she was supported by a fundraising drive in her homeland. She visited Los Angeles to train with Nagalingam Ethirveerasingam, shortly thereafter, she won gold medals in the 100 m and 200 m at the 2007 Asian Athletics Championships in Jordan and a bronze medal in the 200 m race at the 2007 IAAF World Championships. It was her first World Championship medal in 10 years, on 13 August 2007 she was ranked by the IAAF as 18th in the world for the 100 m sprint and 20th in the world for the 200 m sprint. On February 5,2009, Jayasinghe announced her retirement from sports in order to focus on becoming a mother, on March 31,2009, she gave birth to a baby boy. In November 2010 she announced her plan to return to competition, duncan White Sriyantha Dissanayake Nagalingam Ethirveerasingam Susanthika Jayasinghe profile at IAAF
Susanthika Jayasinghe
–
Jayasinghe at the 2007 World Championships
Maurice Greene (USA)
Donovan Bailey (CAN)
Ato Boldon (TRI)
Frankie Fredericks (NAM)
Claudinei Quirino (BRA)
Davis Kamoga (UGA)
Wilson Kipketer (DEN)
Norberto Téllez (CUB)
Hicham El Guerrouj (MAR)
Fermín Cacho (ESP)
Daniel Komen (KEN)
Haile Gebrselassie (ETH)
Steve Moneghetti (AUS)
Colin Jackson (GBR)
Igor Kováč (SVK)
Stéphane Diagana (FRA)
Llewellyn Herbert (RSA)
Daniel García (MEX)
Mikhail Shchennikov (RUS)
Mikhail Khmelnitskiy (BLR)
Robert Korzeniowski (POL)
Nigeria (NGR)
Jamaica (JAM)
Sergey Bubka (UKR)
Oliver-Sven Buder (GER)
Virgilijus Alekna (LTU)
Kostas Gatsioudis (GRE)
Tomáš Dvořák (CZE)
Eduard Hämäläinen (FIN)
Savatheda Fynes (BAH)
Susanthika Jayasinghe (SRI)
Maria Mutola (MOZ)
Carla Sacramento (POR)
Anita Weyermann (SUI)
Gabriela Szabo (ROU)
Roberta Brunet (ITA)
Masako Chiba (JPN)
Ludmila Engquist (SWE)
Svetla Dimitrova (BUL)
Hanne Haugland (NOR)
Beatrice Faumuina (NZL)
Switzerland
