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| Born | March 7, 1963 | ||||||||||||||||||
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Medal record
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Mark Robert Rowland (born March 7, 1963 in Watersfield, West Sussex, England) is a retired British athlete, who was a bronze medallist at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul.
Rowland came third in the men's Men's 3000m Steeplechase behind the Kenyan competitors Julius Kariuki (gold) and Peter Koech (silver). His time was 8 mins 7.96 seconds, which remains a UK record.
Rowland became the eighth and, thus far, final British athlete to pick up a medal in the steeplechase event at the Olympics. His post-race interview at the track-side was famous for his quote:
| “ | I just kept telling myself to dig, dig, dig—and I did it! I've got a bloody medal! | ” |
Two years later, Rowland was beaten to silver in the sprint finish in the same event at the European Championships in Split by the Italian athlete Francesco Panetta.
Rowland's career didn't hit such heights again and, after retiring, he became a coach to many promising young British steeplechasers and was steeplechase and middle-distance coach for UK Athletics.
He is now training athletes, including British middle-distance runner Jemma Simpson, in the USA for the Oregon Track Club Elite.[1]