Roger Black MBE: An Insight From The Olympic Medallist
Roger Black MBE at the Atlanta 1996 Olympics
During Roger Black’s athletics career, he won individual silver medals in the 400 metres sprint and 4 x 400 metre relay at the Olympic Games as well as a silver medal for the 400 metre sprint at the World Championships. This is together with two individual gold medals at the European Championships, and 4 × 400 metres relay gold medals at both the World and European Championships.
Growing up I had not really paid much attention to athletics, I wanted to follow in the footsteps of my father and become a doctor. At the time I viewed athletics as an individual sport. I was good at sport but I was more involved in team sports such as football and rugby.
After my A Levels, I went to Southampton University to study Medicine. Though soon enough, I had a talk with my professor which changed the course of my career. The talk catalysed the life-altering question of:
Should I continue my study of medicine for five years or become an athlete within the year?
The latter was my choice and in a year, at twenty years old, I was training and winning medals. I was getting paid to wear running shoes.
However, I broke my foot and my 1987 season was halted. That is when I realised that sheer talent and hard work were just not enough. I learned tactics and strategies that would help strengthen my skill. Luckily, people I trained with had the same hopes, dreams and acquisitions. My training partner, Kriss Akabusi, and I had synergy.
It was at that time I realised that 1 + 1 can equal more than 2. I was able to achieve as much - if not more - through teamwork.
Three years after my injury, I wanted to defend my European 400m final title in 1990. So then I proceeded to:
Goal Setting
Process (training)
Performance (timing)
Outcome (finishing)
That is where you have to think to yourself, what would have YOU run your perfect race. Do not change for change’s sake but change for improvement.
Do not focus on your opponents, focus on YOU.
Momentum of Proactivity
I rode this momentum.
Threw my stopwatch away
Focused
When behind 400m line I made sure I was always ready
It is because of all of this dedication, training and mindset that the Silver medals that I won at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics was personally my Olympic gold. The difference between the two were only so much (43.490 seconds to 44.410 seconds in the 400m race). Everyone has the ability to feel like a champion if they just believe that they have done their best. My teammates of the 4x400m (Iwan Thomas, Jamie Baulch and Mark Richardson) harboured a unique bond through such a shared experience, making us closer than ever before. Individual experiences are fantastic but when you do it together you can share it and bask in all of the glory of the reward for your months/years of hard work.
Best Moment
Holding my Olympic Silver medals was my best moment - it was what I had trained everyday for.
All in all, I have to say that I am grateful for my successes and all I have been able to achieve with making my impact on the world of athletics - and I hope through my achievements more are encouraged to follow their dreams whether that be in sport or any other field.
Roger Black, at the ‘CIMA: An Evening With Olympic Medallist Roger Black’