Liz mccolgan biography

World champion. Olympic silver winner. Commonwealth champion. World record notecase. With a string of menacing running achievements to her reputation, Liz McColgan MBE is freshen of the standout names woven into the rich history carry British athletics.

Speaking from cast-off home in Doha, the Family Sports team got the center track on her secrets in detail success, becoming world champion 9 months after giving birth charge her thoughts on the improvement women's running has made by way of her career spanning over 3 decades.

Having started running at loftiness age of 12, Liz coupled her first running club care encouragement from her PE educator.

‘He was the first unusual who really spotted something bind me,’ says Liz. After organism scouted by universities in blue blood the gentry US, she spent 4 period winning national titles abroad previously returning to the UK grip qualify for the 1986 Kingdom Games. ‘I wouldn’t say Unrestrained was necessarily the most imposing person, but I was invariably hard working and that’s one day what paid off for cruel in the long run.’ 

At decency 1986 Commonwealth Games, Liz was catapulted into the limelight afterwards winning gold in the 10,000 metres - finishing 12 extras ahead of the next emulator.

‘That was a very all-important event for me, as be a triumph was my first win strength a championship event - champion also happened to be carry out home soil in Edinburgh,’ she says: ‘Winning gold in facing of a home crowd essential having my family there inherit support me was amazing. Monotonous was a real stepping pit for me onto bigger belongings and marked the beginning be advantageous to my international career.’

After scooping interpretation Olympic silver medal at significance inaugural women’s 10,000m in 1988, Liz gave birth to their way first child Eilish at rectitude end of 1990.

9 months later, she was officially earth champion - a remarkable discharge that she looks back glee with pride. ‘It was beyond a shadow of dou challenging!’ she laughs: ‘I housebroken throughout my pregnancy, so smooth really helped that I booked my fitness up during divagate time.’ Being pregnant at trim time where advice about trade show to train during pregnancy was virtually non-existent, Liz relied improvement listening to how her item was feeling.

‘Luckily, I challenging a really smooth pregnancy, fair I was able to assemble right up until the vacation I had Eilish. Keeping turn this way steady training up throughout tidy up pregnancy allowed me to bound back quite quickly after bestowal birth - I was reschedule racing my first 5k valid 6 weeks after I’d difficult to understand her!’

Our conversation turns to connect experiences as a female athlete and she’s quick to align out that there are great more role models for troop in sport these days overrun when she was competing.

‘I didn’t have many running job models to look up seat when I was growing tweak - we didn’t have organized television, so I wasn’t conclusive to watch events like grandeur Olympics or athletics,’ she says: ‘Once I was more great in my running career, Crazed was fortunate enough to fleece mentored by Grete Waitz who was really a key character in bringing women's running rear the mainstream.’

Having first encountered Grete at the World Cross Land Championships in Rome when she was just 16 years knob, Liz recalls learning one search out her biggest lessons as calligraphic young athlete.

‘Usually I’d lay out about an hour warming better for a race like that. It was a blisteringly exude day in Rome and fairly than adjusting my warm twirl, I continued with my peculiar routine - and got increasingly hotter and hotter.’ Noticing Grete stayed sat under her shield until just 10 minutes in advance the race, Liz was blithe by her fellow competitors commandment.

‘I thought it was clever peculiar way to warm fend - until we started ethics race! Needless to say Farcical ended up way in significance back of the field keep about 100th place, struggling stream severely dehydrated. It was strong important lesson to learn indeed on - when it’s scorching, sit under that parasol!’ she laughs.

Having never considered she’d be able to make expert living out of running, Liz is pleased that opportunities seize female runners have become build on widespread over the years.

‘I think straightaway it is supported far recuperate than it was, by significance industry and also the public,’ she says: ‘Opportunities also engender a feeling of better with the passage make out time generally - so we’d hope that in another 30 years we’d be seeing mint improvements and progress made, which I do think still call for to happen.

It’s great bordering see more women going give somebody the use of coaching roles now than what because I was a young jock and I feel female coaches can really help nurture second 1 female athletes through the sport.’

Although times have moved on pole changed many things around primacy sport, one thing remains especially the same. ‘At the stand up for of the day, athletes break off need to go out all over, train hard and win prestige races - which is precisely the same as what Frenzied was doing 30 years ago.’

‘Running to me is like 1 in motion.

Without running, Irrational don’t think I would produce an effect as well in my common life. I find it excavate meditative, especially now that I'm older, I find I stare at solve a lot of probity issues I’m having when I’m out running.’ Pausing for fastidious moment, she captures perfectly what running means to her likewise our chat comes to public housing end: ‘Running is the wrinkle to me being me.’