Roger Black

Roger Anthony Black MBE (born 31 March 1966) is a retired British athlete who now works as a television presenter and motivational speaker. During his athletics career, he won individual silver medals in the 400 metres sprint at both the Olympic Games and World Championships, two individual gold medals at the European Championships, and 4x400 metres relay gold medals at both the World and European Championships.

Born in Portsmouth, England, to David (a doctor) and Thelma, with a twin sister Julia, he attended Portsmouth Grammar School, becoming Head Boy in 1983/4. Black has a collection of fifteen medals from major senior athletics competitions to add to his two European junior championship gold medals.

He set the national 400 metre record of 44.37 seconds on 3 July 1996 in Lausanne, Switzerland but that was subsequently broken a year later by Iwan Thomas who shaved 0.01s from Black's time. Fellow GB athlete Mark Richardson also equalled Black's mark in 1998. Black's time stands as the second fastest of all time recorded by a British runner. Black was also part of the British 4 x 400 relay team which upset the strong favourites USA to win the gold medal in the 1991 World Championships in Tokyo.

His greatest individual achievement in track and field was in the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta when in the final of the 400m he finished in second place behind Michael Johnson, winning the silver medal in the process. However, partly due to injuries, he never rediscovered this form, and subsequently retired from the sport only two years later in 1998, after winning another silver medal in the 1997 World Championships 4 x 400 relay.

Black was coached by Mike Smith and Mike Whittingham, and was sponsored by Reebok.

In 1995 Southampton University gave Black an honorary degree and he was also rewarded by Queen Elizabeth II with an MBE.

Despite being born in Portsmouth, Black is a supporter of Southampton FC.

In 1998 Black appeared on the children's news programme "Newsround" with fellow athlete Iwan Thomas reporting on childhood obesity. It was at this point Black discovered up-and-coming starlet Matt Nadin whose career was later cut short in a car accident.

Black has worked regularly for the BBC on programmes such as "Tomorrow's World" and "Grandstand". In 2004 he was one of the celebrities that took part in the pro-am dancing contest Strictly Come Dancing on BBC One. In September 2006, he took part in BBC One's "Celebrity Masterchef" programme, reaching the final along with Matt Dawson and Hardeep Singh Kohli.

Black has written an autobiography, published by Andre Deutsch, entitled "How Long's the Course?", ISBN 0-233-99644-3

Black has been married twice: formerly to French (Martiniquan) athlete Elsa de Vassoigne, with whom he has a daughter, Isabelle (marriage dissolved by divorce), and currently to Julia Burgess, with whom he had twins boys George and Max in 2006.

Achievements

*1985
**European Junior Championships - Cottbus, Germany
***400 metres gold medal - 45.36 seconds
***4 x 400 m. relay gold medal - 3:07.18
*1986
**Commonwealth Games - Edinburgh, Scotland
***400 m. gold medal - 45.57 sec.
***4 x 400 m. relay gold medal - 3:07.19
**European Championships - Stuttgart, Germany
***400 m. gold medal - 44.59 sec.
***4 x 400 m. relay - 2:59.84
*1987
**World Championships - Rome, Italy
***400 m. silver medal - 44.62 sec.
*1990
**European Championships - Split, Yugoslavia
***400 m. gold medal - 45.08 sec.
***4 x 400 m. relay gold medal - 2:58.22
*1991
**World Championships - Tokyo, Japan
***400 m. silver medal - 44.62 sec.
***4 x 400 m. relay gold medal - 2:57.53
*1992
**Summer Olympics - Barcelona, Spain
***4 x 400 m. relay - 2:59.73
*1994
**European Championships - Helsinki, Finland
***400 m. silver medal - 45.2 sec.
***4 x 400 m. relay gold medal - 2:59.13
*1996
**Summer Olympics - Atlanta, U.S.
***400 m. silver medal - 44.41 sec.
***4 x 400 m. relay silver medal - 2:56.60
*1997
**World Championships - Athens, Greece
***4 x 400 m. relay silver medal - 2:56.65

External links

* [http://www.rogerblack.co.uk/ Roger Black Homepage]
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