Mark McKoy

Mark McKoy (born December 10, 1961 in Georgetown , Guyana ) is a former Canadian (later Austrian ) hurdler and sprinter , whose specialty was the 110-meter hurdles .

Born in the Caribbean , McKoy spent his childhood in England and came to Canada as a teenager . For the first time the hurdler attracted international attention at the 1982 Commonwealth Games , where he won gold. At the World Athletics Championships in Helsinki in 1983 , he reached the finals and was fourth. He also took this ungrateful place at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. After further finals in the intervening years, the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul ended bitterly for him . After his Canadian sprint colleague Ben Johnson was disqualified for dopingthe Canadian team no longer competed in the 4 x 100 meter relay . After stepping into a hurdle, he was only seventh in the hurdles race. Like Johnson, he came under suspicion of doping , which was finally confirmed. This resulted in a two-year ban.

He returned to competitive sport for the 1991 World Championships in Tokyo and, as so often before, came fourth. The 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona finally brought satisfaction after a ten-year career marked by ups and downs: McKoy became Olympic champion.

During his two-year ban, McKoy moved to Austria and started working for the Austrian association several times after his naturalization in 1994. Mark McKoy has also held the indoor world record for the rarely run distance of 50 meters since 1986 .

Personal bests

• 50 m (hall): 5.78 s, February 7, 1996, Moscow
• 60 m (hall): 6.49 s, March 6, 1993, Karlsruhe
• 100 m : 10.08 s, July 2, 1993, Villeneuve-d'Ascq
• 50 m hurdles (hall): 6.25 s, March 5, 1986, Kobe (world record)
• 60 m hurdles: 7.41 s, March 14, 1993, Toronto
• 110 m hurdles: 13.08 s, July 2, 1993, Villeneuve-d'Ascq

Web links

• Mark McKoy in the database of World Athletics (English)
• Athlete portrait at the ÖLV
• Mark McKoy: Doping offender, Stasi victim, Olympic champion Article by Florian Vetter on derstandard.at