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About Dr. Roger Lim | Roger Lim Orthodontic Arts Center | Alhambra,... orthoartscenter.com | MZ Black History New York | Black Colleges & Universities New York |... artisticsmiles.net | DentistryDr.com - Black Cyn City Dentists in Black Cyn City, Arizona dentistrydr.com |
Roger Anthony Black MBE (born 31 March 1966) is a retired British athlete who now works as a television presenter and motivational speaker. During his athletics career, he won individual silver medals in the 400 metres sprint at both the Olympic Games and World Championships, two individual gold medals at the European Championships, and 4x400 metres relay gold medals at both the World and European Championships.
[edit] Early lifeBorn in Portsmouth, England, to David (a doctor) and Thelma, with a twin sister Julia, he attended Portsmouth Grammar School, becoming Head Boy in 1983/84. Black has a collection of fifteen medals from major senior athletics competitions to add to his two European junior championship gold medals. [edit] Athletics careerHe set the national 400 metre record of 44.37 seconds on 3 July 1996 in Lausanne, Switzerland but that was subsequently broken a year later by Iwan Thomas who shaved 0.01s from Black's time. Fellow GB athlete Mark Richardson also equalled Black's mark in 1998. Black's time stands as the second fastest of all time recorded by a British runner. Black was also part of the British 4 x 400 relay team which upset the strong favourites USA to win the gold medal in the 1991 World Championships in Tokyo. Black came second in the individual 400m in Tokyo to Antonio Pettigrew. Pettigrew later admitted the use of performance enhancing drugs from 1997 onwards in June 2008. No clear evidence has emerged - and neither has Pettigrew admitted - using performance enhancing drugs during the 1991 season. His greatest individual achievement in track and field was in the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta when in the final of the 400m he finished in second place behind Michael Johnson, winning the silver medal in the process. However, partly due to injuries, he never rediscovered this form, and subsequently retired from the sport only two years later in 1998, after winning another silver medal in the 1997 World Championships 4 x 400 relay. Black was coached by Mike Smith and Mike Whittingham, and was sponsored by Reebok. [edit] AwardsIn 1995 Southampton University gave Black an honorary degree and he was also rewarded by Queen Elizabeth II with an MBE. [edit] Television careerIn 1998 Black appeared on the children's news programme Newsround with fellow athlete Iwan Thomas reporting on childhood obesity. Black has worked regularly for the BBC on programmes such as Tomorrow's World and Grandstand. In 2004 he was one of the celebrities that took part in the pro-am dancing contest Strictly Come Dancing on BBC One. In September 2006, he took part in BBC One's Celebrity Masterchef programme, reaching the final along with Matt Dawson and Hardeep Singh Kohli. [edit] WritingBlack has written an autobiography, published by Andre Deutsch, entitled How Long's the Course?, ISBN 0-233-99644-3 [edit] Personal lifeBlack has been married twice: formerly to French (Martiniquan) athlete Elsa de Vassoigne, with whom he has a daughter, Isabelle (marriage dissolved by divorce), and currently to Julia Burgess, with whom he had twins boys George and Max in 2006. Despite being born in Portsmouth, Black is a supporter of Southampton FC. [edit] Achievements
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Categories: 1966 births | Living people | People from Portsmouth | Athletes at the 1992 Summer Olympics | Athletes at the 1996 Summer Olympics | British sports broadcasters | English athletes | English sprinters | English television presenters | Members of the Order of the British Empire | Athletes at the 1986 Commonwealth Games | Commonwealth Games gold medallists for England | Olympic bronze medalists for Great Britain | Olympic athletes of Great Britain | Olympic silver medalists for Great Britain | Strictly Come Dancing participants | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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