Du'aine Ladejo

Du'aine Thorne Ladejo (born February 14, 1971 in Paddington , London ) is a former British sprinter who became European champion in 1994.

At the Junior World Championships in 1990, he finished seventh in the 400-meter run . At the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, the British team in the 4 x 400 meter relay, made up of Mark Richardson , Kriss Akabusi , Roger Black and Ladejo, qualified for the final in 3: 01.20 minutes behind Trinidad's relay . In the finals, David Grindley and John Regis competed for Richardson and Ladejo and finished third behind the USA and Cuba. Richardson and Ladejo were also honored with the bronze medal as preliminary starters.

In 1993, Ladejo won his only British championship, but retired from the World Athletics Championships in Stuttgart in the semifinals; the relay did not qualify for the final.

In 1994, Ladejo made his breakthrough to the top of the world. At the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Paris , he won in 46.53 s wafer-thin ahead of the Russian Mikhail Vdovin . In mid-August, he won gold in the European Athletics Championships in Helsinki in 45.09 s ahead of defending champion Roger Black and Swiss Mathias Rusterholz . The British relay with David McKenzie , Brian Whittle , Black and Ladejo won in 2: 59.13 minutes, well ahead of the French and Russian relay. A week later, Ladejo, starting for England , took silver at the Commonwealth Games in Victoria over 400 m in 45.11 seconds behind the Kenyan Charles Gitonga . The English relay with McKenzie, Peter Crampton , Adrian Patrick and Ladejo won the final in 3: 02.14 minutes before the seasons of Jamaica and Trinidad.

After a rather moderate season in 1995, Ladejo returned at the European Indoor Championships in Stockholm in 1996 and won clearly in 46.12 s. At the British Championships in Birmingham, Ladejo ran a personal best in 44.66 s and finished second behind Roger Black. At the Olympic Games in Atlanta , Ladejo was eliminated in the quarter-finals over 400 meters. The relay won its preliminary run in the line-up of Ladejo, Jamie Baulch , Mark Hylton and Mark Richardson, in the line-up of Iwan Thomas , Baulch, Ladejo and Richardson they also won the semifinals. In the finals, Thomas, Baulch, Richardson and Black took second place behind the US relay. Mark Hylton and Ladejo were also honored with the silver medal.

After Atlanta, Ladejo was only once in a grand final. At the IAAF World Indoor Championships in 2001 in Lisbon he was part of the British relay, which finished fifth. Because of the Jerome Young doping case, the relay moved up one place later.

Du'aine Ladejo is 1.86 m tall and weighed 83 kg at competition times. The University of Texas graduate started for the Birchfield Harriers.

literature

• Peter Matthews (Ed.): Athletics 1997. The international Track and Field Annual SportsBooks, Surbiton 1997, ISBN 1-899807-02-0 .

Web links

• Du'aine ladejo in the database of World Athletics (English)
• Du'aine takes the lad out of Ladejo , portrait of Simon Turnbull in the Independent , July 8, 2001