The Welsh athletics legend and BBC pundit has confronted private and well being battles since retiring from the sport, however is now thriving as he approaches his sixtieth birthday
Colin Jackson is a busy man as he approaches 60
The 2026 World Indoor Athletics Championships is beneath approach this weekend, with the globe’s best observe and subject athletes getting ready to compete for considered one of their sport’s most prestigious honours.
With the BBC broadcasting the motion from Poland, Welsh legend Colin Jackson is offering commentary and punditry all through the Championships.
The 59 12 months previous is a extremely recognisable determine to BBC Sport audiences, having contributed to the broadcaster’s athletics protection for greater than 20 years.
Naturally, this adopted a stellar athletics profession of his personal, throughout which the Cardiff-born sprinter and hurdler claimed 12 gold, eight silver and one bronze medal throughout all competitions. He maintained the 110m hurdles world document for 13 years, having clocked a time of 12.91 seconds at the 1993 World Championships in Stuttgart.
He reigned supreme in the hurdles for years, but regardless of his plain capability, he fell wanting his final ambition of Olympic gold, enduring disappointment in three consecutive finals as he needed to accept a single silver, experiences Wales Online.
Nonetheless, Jackson is rightfully considered an icon of British athletics, and he has efficiently cast a thriving second profession following his retirement from the sport. Beyond his punditry duties for the BBC, Jackson has additionally ventured into presenting, while showing on outstanding actuality programmes together with Strictly Come Dancing and Celebrity Masterchef.
He has moreover served as a coach to Welsh athletes Tim Benjamin and Rhys Williams, in addition to swimmer Mark Foster, and holds a directorship at multimedia manufacturing agency Red Shoes.
Jackson has additionally devoted himself to charitable causes, establishing the Go Dad Run initiative along with his sister Suzanne in 2013 to generate funds for Prostate Cancer UK.
He additionally serves as an envoy for Spar’s psychological well being initiative ‘SPARk a Conversation’, while taking up the position of worldwide director and model ambassador for Sport4Kids in 2016.
As he approaches his sixtieth birthday, Jackson is flourishing, although it has actually not been an easy path for him, having hid his genuine identification from a lot of the world for nearly 5 many years.
In 2017, aged 50, the former Team GB star publicly revealed he was homosexual throughout an look on Swedish tv, having beforehand denied it on two separate events, together with in his 2004 autobiography.
However, in an interview for Swedish documentary Rainbow Heroes, Jackson defined he had beforehand kept away from disclosing his sexuality to forestall it being “sensationalised” in the media, having had a former companion promote a ‘kiss and inform’ story about him to a newspaper greater than a decade prior. That episode prompted him to reveal his sexuality to his supportive mother and father, earlier than publicly popping out over a decade later.
“I was waiting for them in the kitchen,” he recounted the second he revealed his truth to his mother and father. “They walked in and they sat down. My mother could see my face and I was quite distraught. It didn’t faze them at all. My mum went: ‘First of all, is the story true?’
“And I mentioned it is true, so it isn’t like I can deny it. And then she went: ‘Well, why are individuals so disgraceful?’ I simply realised, I’ve received the greatest mother and father.”
Two years post his coming out, Jackson confessed he was surprised by the enormous public response to his revelation, as he shared on the LifeTimes podcast: “All of a sudden my mates had been ringing me from LA, Las Vegas, Canada and it made information throughout the world. I used to be like ‘Wow! Okay, I did not assume I used to be that related’.
“I can understand now why an active footballer wouldn’t necessarily want to come out in that sense. If you just want to concentrate on your sport and focus on your teamwork, you shouldn’t have to deal with all of this.
“If I used to be a competing athlete I might have discovered it very distracting for me. When you do not see many main footballers in that sense (popping out as homosexual), I completely perceive how they’d really feel.”
Health points
In retirement, Jackson has also grappled with health challenges, disclosing that he suffers from a degenerative condition which makes even getting out of bed in the morning difficult for him.
However, whilst he endured “in fixed ache” for years because of the condition, he has since received stem cell treatment, which left him feeling “amazing”.
In an interview with the Mirror prior to receiving the treatment, Jackson said he was worried he would end up in a wheelchair as he explained: “I’m in fixed ache however you study to dwell it with it.
“I’ve got the body of a man in his mid-30s but the knees of a man in his mid-80s. I’ve had seven operations on my knees already – four on the right knee and three on the left knee.
“I simply cannot face any extra. My knees lock up after lengthy automobile journeys, and getting out and in of the bathtub is awkward. I knew my knees had been going to be an issue however I hadn’t began to really feel it till I received into my 50s.
“When you are young, you don’t worry about it. But when you get older, you realise the grief you have caused yourself. On a good day, the pain level is three out of 10 but on a bad day it’s a 10.
“But I nonetheless work out, I nonetheless go to the fitness center and do yoga and Pilates as a result of I do not need to give in to it,” he added. “Before I practice I’ll take ibuprofen so I do not exacerbate the downside. I’m praying for a miracle as a result of I actually don’t need knee replacements and I do not need to be in a wheelchair.”
However, following the remedy later that 12 months, Jackson mentioned: “I’m pain-free in the mornings. I dwell in fairly a hilly place simply outdoors Cardiff and what a distinction it has made to strolling up and down these hills.
“It reminds me of what life was like 20 or 30 years ago when I didn’t have these issues. It’s amazing.”
