Darren Campbell

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Olympic medal record
Men’s Athletics
Gold 2004 Athens 4x100m Relay
Silver 2000 Sydney 200m

Darren Andrew Campbell (born September 12, 1973 in Manchester, England) was an English sprint athlete, competing in the 100 m and 200 m, as well as the 4 x 100 m relay.

Contents

[edit] Career

[edit] Early career

Campbell was both a talented athlete and footballer during his youth. His first national success in athletics was a gold medal at the English Schools Championships in the 200m. Campbell then won the 100m and 200m gold medals at the 1991 European Junior Championships held in Thessaloniki, Greece, as well as a gold medal in the 4 x 100m. A year later, he won silver medals at the 1992 World Junior Championships, in the sprint double, and a gold medal in the 4 x 100m relay. He was beaten both times by Ato Boldon, who became the first athlete to win a double at the championships.

His senior international debut came at the Stuttgart World Championships in 1993, as part of the 4 x 100m squad. However, as a result of injuries, he left athletics at the age of 21 to play football for Cwmbran Town, Plymouth Argyle F.C., Weymouth F.C., UWIC Inter Cardiff F.C., and Newport County A.F.C. amongst others. During a debate on TalkSPORT on 14th August 2006, Campbell stated this period away from athletics had also been spurred on by attempts by certain individuals to draw him in to a drugs programme.[1]

[edit] 1995-1999

Following two seasons playing football, Campbell returned to athletics in 1995, and ran the 100m in 10.34s that year. The following year, he improved his 100m time to 10.17s, and represented Britain in the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. Campbell only represented Britain in the 4 x 100m relay, but did not receive the baton, as it was dropped before it reached him.

At the 1997 World Championships, Campbell won his first major senior medal - a bronze in the 4 x 100m relay, and by this time was a regular feature in the British squad.

Campbell's first senior gold medals came at the 1998 European Championships in Budapest. Campbell won the 100m individual event, setting his best time at the 100m in the final - 10.13s, and also winning gold in the 4 x 100m relay. At the Commonwealth Games that year, Campbell was in the winning team for the 4 x 100m relay, however, won no individual medals.

The following year, in the 1999 World Championships, held in Seville, Campbell won the silver medal in the 4 x 100m relay, but was eliminated from his individual event in the semi-finals.

[edit] 2000 and the Sydney Olympics

In 2000, Campbell won the man of the match award in the European Cup following his performance in the 100m. Campbell replaced Jason Gardener with 20 minutes notice, and won the race in a time of 10.09s (wind-assisted). He also ran in a leg in the winning 4 x 100m relay team.

At the Olympics in Sydney, Campbell placed 6th in the 100m final, and took a surprise silver medal in the 200m, as Campbell was mainly a 100m runner, and had a previous best time of 20.49s. In the quarter-final, he took 0.29s off this to reduce to 20.13s, his fastest time at the distance in his career. This was followed by performances of 20.23s in the semi-final and 20.14s in the final to finish second, Campbell's first senior medal at the distance.

[edit] 2001-2002

Campbell was again hit by injury in 2001, missing the majority of the year's competitions. He had run 10.16s for the 100m and 20.41s for the 200m, and been named European Cup captain prior to the injury.

After returning from injury the following year, Campbell took bronze in the individual 100m event and gold in the 4 x 100m relay at the 2002 European Championships. His bronze was later upgraded to a silver after Dwain Chambers confessed to taking performance-enchancing drugs at this time. However, the relay gold was later taken from him, as Chambers was part of the quartet. He won his quarter-final in the 200m, but was eliminated after being disqualified for stepping outside his lane.

The year also saw Campbell compete in his home town of Manchester in the Commonwealth Games. He did repeat his Olympic success in the 200m, receiving bronze in this event. However, he anchoring the team to gold in the 4 x 100m relay along with squad members Jason Gardener, Marlon Devonish and Allyn Condon, just beating Asafa Powell of Jamaica in a very tight photo finish.

[edit] 2003-2006

In 2003, at the Paris World Championships, Campbell took bronze in the 100m, but missed on a medal in the 200m, finishing fourth in the final. He also ran the 2nd leg for the 4 x 100m relay team, but later lost this medal due to Dwain Chambers being found guilty of doping. Campbell also set his 60m PB of 6.59s this year.

In the 2004 Summer Olympics, Campbell won a surprise gold medal in the 4 x 100m, in a team with Jason Gardener, Marlon Devonish and Mark Lewis-Francis, who defeated the United States team by just 0.01s, winning in a season's best of 38.07s. However, Campbell performed less well in the 100m and 200m, exiting in the heat and semi-final respectively, due to not being fully recovered from a hamstring injury.

He was named captain for the European Cup in 2005, however did not have a successful season, only placing 5th in the AAA semi-final and running 10.47s (10.48w) for the 100m and 20.9s for the 200m. He did, however, receive an MBE in the New Year Honours.

Campbell competed at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, however did not progress past the semi-final in the 200m, and the England team were eliminated in the 4 x 100m after a faulty baton changeover in their heat. He did not compete individually at the European Championships in Gothenburg, but ran the second leg to help Britain to the gold medal in the 4 x 100 relay.

[edit] European Championships row

On 13th August 2006, after winning the 4 x 100m European 4 x 100m relay gold medal with Great Britain, Campbell left the track without completing a lap of honour with the rest of his team mates. He initially remained cryptic about his problems, but revealed the next day that his lap of honour boycott was due to his loss of two relay medals (2002 European Championships gold and 2003 World Championships silver) as a result of Dwain Chambers' doping. Campbell did, however, explain that he did stand by Chambers insofar as he was not solely accountable, but he felt Chambers had a duty to inform the authorities of the individuals who led him to his departure to America and his resulting adoption of a drug programme. John Regis criticised Campbell for this stand, also noting that his coach (Linford Christie) had served a drugs ban.[2]

Campbell defended himself, saying "I will not regret doing that. At times you have to stand up for what you believe", and also that he was concerned about youngsters ending up the same situation.[3] He also defended his links with Christie, stating that he would not have remained with Christie if he thought he had cheated. [4]

[edit] Retirement

Campbell announced his retirement on 18th August 2006[5]. His final race was at the inaugural Celtic Cup race in Grangemouth, where he won the 100m competing as a guest. Campbell surprised[5] Dave Collins and UK Athletics, who had been expecting him to retire following the two-day international athletics meeting at Birmingham taking over the following two days.

[edit] Personal Bests

[edit] Achievements

Year Tournament Venue Event Result Extra
1991 European Junior Athletics Championship Thessaloniki, Greece 100 m 1st
200 m 1st
4 x 100 m 1st
1992 World Junior Championships Seoul, South Korea 100 m 2nd
200 m 2nd
4 x 100 m 1st
1996 European Cup Madrid, Spain 4 x 100 m 3rd
1997 World Championships Athens, Greece 4 x 100 m 3rd
1998 European Championships Budapest, Hungary 100 m 1st
4 x 100 m 1st
Commonwealth Games Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 4 x 100 m 1st
1999 World Championships Seville, Spain 4 x 100 m 2nd National Record 37.73s
European Cup Paris, France 4 x 100 m 1st
2000 Summer Olympics Sydney, Australia 200 m 2nd
European Cup Gateshead, England 100 m 1st
4 x 100 m 1st
2002 European Championships Munich, Germany 100 m 3rd
4 x 100 m 1st (later stripped
due to Dwain Chambers'
doping)
Commonwealth Games Manchester, England 200 m 3rd
4 x 100 m 1st
2003 World Championships Paris, France 100 m 3rd
4 x 100 m 2nd (later stripped
due to Dwain Chambers
failing a drugs test)
European Cup Florence, Italy 4 x 100 m 3rd
2004 Summer Olympics Athens, Greece 4 x 100 m 1st
2006 European Championships Goteborg, Sweden 4 x 100 m 1st

As well as these performances, during his career Darren has also won seven national titles at either the 100 or 200 metres.

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www2.talksport.net/features/feature_detail.asp?show=100056&day=7&feature_id=100807 "Campbell calls Gaunty to set the record straight" TalkSPORT, August 14 2006, retrieved August 21, 2006 (contains linked recording of program)
  2. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/athletics/4790367.stm Campbell angry at losing medals - BBC News
  3. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/athletics/4793493.stm Campbell has no regrets over row - BBC News
  4. ^ http://sport.guardian.co.uk/athletics/story/0,,1844736,00.html "Campbell stands his ground over Chambers relay snub" by Duncan Mackay, The Guardian, August 15, 2006, retrieved August 18, 2006
  5. ^ a b http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/athletics/4796455.stm Campbell bows out at Celtic Cup - BBC News
Olympic champions in men's 4×100 m relay
1912 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996
2000 2004
2004 Great Britain Jason Gardener, Darren Campbell, Marlon Devonish & Mark Lewis-Francis
Post-war British Olympic champions in men's athletics
1956: Chris Brasher (3000 m steeplechase) | 1960: Don Thompson (50 km walk) | 1964: Ken Matthews (20 km walk) | 1964: Lynn Davies (long jump) | 1968: David Hemery (400 m hurdles) 1980: Allan Wells (100 m) | 1980: Steve Ovett (800 m) | 1980 & 1984: Sebastian Coe (1500 m) | 1980 & 1984: Daley Thompson (decathlon) | 1992: Linford Christie (100 m) | 2000: Jonathan Edwards (triple jump) | 2004: Jason Gardener, Darren Campbell, Marlon Devonish & Mark Lewis-Francis (4 x 100 m relay)
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../d/a/r/Darren_Campbell_a355.html"
In other languages