Tom McKean

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Tom McKean (born October 27, 1963 in Bellshill , Scotland ) is a former British athlete who won three international titles in the 800-meter run .

Like Steve Ovett , Sebastian Coe , Steve Cram and Peter Elliott, he belonged to the group of British middle-distance runners who dominated competitions in the 1980s. While his competition could keep up with almost any speed and thus won medals in very fast races, McKean had his best chances in slow, tactical races due to his enormous sprint force.

Career

In 1985 McKean won the UK Championships and the European Athletics Cup.

The following year, Cram ensured a pace at the Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh that nobody could follow. He won in 1: 43.22 minutes ahead of McKean, who started for Scotland , in 1: 44.80 minutes. Peter Elliott finished third after Coe had qualified for the final but failed to take part. At the European Athletics Championships in Stuttgart , the three Brits represented clearly set themselves apart from the rest of the field. Coe won in 1: 44.50 minutes ahead of McKean in 1: 44.61 minutes and Cram in 1: 44.88 minutes.

In 1987 McKean won the European Cup again and qualified for the final at the World Championships in Rome . There the Brazilian José Luiz Barbosa ensured such a high pace that McKean fell back early and then easily trotted to the finish line as the last, while the harder-paced Elliott won silver behind the Kenyan Billy Konchellah and ahead of Barbosa.

The 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul were very unpleasant for McKean. In the quarterfinals he was able to fight his way to fourth place, which is necessary to advance, but was disqualified because he had used his elbows too hard in the crowd on the home straight. In 1989 McKean won again at the European Cup and set his personal best at a sports festival in London.

The 1990 Commonwealth Games took place in Auckland from January 27th to February 3rd. In a slow 800 meter final, the Kenyans Sammy Tirop and Nixon Kiprotich won ahead of the Englishman Matthew Yates . Coe finished sixth ahead of McKean, both far from their normal form. McKean won a silver medal with the Scottish 4-by-400-meter relay behind the Kenyan relay and ahead of Jamaica. A month later, Tom McKean was in a completely different condition and won the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow in 1: 46.22 minutes by one second over second-placed Spaniard Tomás de Teresa . McKean also confirmed his reputation as the best European in the summer. At the European Championships in Split he won in 1: 44.76 minutes ahead of his teammate David Sharpe .

In 1991 McKean won the 800-meter run at the European Cup for the fourth time in a row. At the World Championships in Tokyo McKean made a rookie mistake in the run-up. Lying in the lead, he spun to the finish and was intercepted at the finish line by Billy Konchellah and the American Mark Everett . McKean was eliminated while Konchellah and Everett won gold and bronze in the finals. At the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, ​​McKean was eliminated in the semifinals.

At the 1993 World Indoor Championships in Toronto, McKean ran from the front in the final, avoided any scrum and won in 1: 47.29 minutes, while the runners behind him stumbled and Barbosa fell. In the summer of the European Cup, McKean was only third for the first time. In his last grand final at the World Championships in Stuttgart , McKean finished eighth, just like six years earlier.

Personal

Tom McKean is 1.83 m and weighed 71 kg at competition times. After his athletic career, he became a Strathclyde police officer .

Best times

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME McKean, Tom
BRIEF DESCRIPTION scottish middle distance runner
DATE OF BIRTH October 27, 1963
PLACE OF BIRTH Bellshill , Scotland , United Kingdom