Roger Black

Roger Black 2011

Roger Anthony Black (born March 31, 1966 in Portsmouth , England ) is a former British athlete and Olympian, as well as television presenter and motivator.

Black attended Portsmouth Grammar School and is described as a perfect student, both in terms of subject matter and athletic performance. In his sporting career, he won 17 medals at major sporting events. He celebrated his first major international triumph in 1985 at the European Junior Championships in Cottbus in 1985 with a gold medal in the 400-meter run and in the 4-by-400-meter relay . In 1986 he won the gold medal in these two disciplines at the European Championships in Stuttgart and repeated these two successes at the Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh .

After 1986 his young career seemed to be over and until 1989 Black could not advance to the medal ranks in any important international events. But from 1990 he was back in top form and won gold over 400 meters at the European Championships in Split , Yugoslavia and in the 4 x 400 meter relay race. At the 1991 World Championships in Tokyo , Japan , he won silver over 400 meters and gold in the 4 x 400 meter relay. At the European Championships in Helsinki in 1994 , he repeated the previous result, while at the 1997 World Championships in Athens he was originally only able to achieve the silver medal in the 400-meter relay. Due to the later disqualification of the American Antonio Pettigrew for doping, the British relay moved up and subsequently became world champion.

He was also successful at the Olympic Games, even if it was never enough to win a gold medal. At the XVV. At the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona he was able to win the team bronze medal , together with his teammates David Grindley , Kriss Akabusi and John Regis , behind the teams from the USA (gold) and Cuba (silver). At the XXVI. At the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta , he was able to achieve his first Olympic medal in a single discipline. He won the silver medal in the 400 meters, behind the American Michael Johnson (gold) and before from Uganda originating Davis Kamoga (bronze), and the team silver medal in the 400-meter relay, along with his teammates Iwan Thomas , Jamie Baulch and Mark Richardson , behind the team from the USA (gold) and in front of the team from Jamaica (bronze).

Today Black works as a TV host and motivator for the BBC . For his services in and around sport, he was awarded an honorary doctorate in 1995 and was honored by Queen Elizabeth II with the Order of Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE).

Web links

• Roger Black's website
• Roger Black in the database of Sports-Reference (English; archived from the original )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Official IAAF World Cup results list (accessed on December 1, 2019)