Athletics in the UK: The Rise and Fall of the BAF

126 What about the athletes? from Tony Jarrett (110m hurdles) and John Regis (200m) and bronze from Steve Smith (high jump), Jonathan Edwards (triple jump), Mick Hill (pushing Steve Backley into 4 th place in the javelin) and the women’s 4x400m relay team. 1994 brought another European Championship, this time in Helsinki, a Mecca of athletics where javelin throwing is a national sport. Britain was, as usual, expected to do well and did not disappoint. Six gold medals came from Linford Christie (100m), Du’aine Ladejo (400m), Colin Jackson (110m hurdles), Steve Backley (javelin), Sally Gunnell (400m hurdles) and the men’s 4x400m team. Silver medals were won by Roger Black (400m), Rob Denmark (5000m), Kelly Holmes (1500m) and Yvonne Murray (3000m) while Tony Jarrett (110m hurdles), Steve Smith (high jump) and Phyllis Smith (400m) took bronze. Once again, Great Britain was shown to be one of the leading athletic nations in Europe. The 1995 World championships in Gothenburg, Sweden, will forever be remembered as Jonathan Edwards’ championships. Not only did he take the gold medal in the triple jump but he broke the world record twice during the competition, concluding with a breathtaking 18.29m which still remains unbroken. A sign of things to come had been seen earlier in the season during the European Cup in Lille where he jumped a phenomenal but wind assisted 18.43m. Elsewhere, Britain had a less successful championship. With Christie, Jackson and Gunnell retired or retiring, only 4 other medals were won. Tony Jarrett and Steve Backley each took a silver medal and Kelly Holmes took silver in the 1500m and bronze in the 800m. 1995 was notable for a chilling in relationships between the BAF and the leading athletes and I have already described the row with Colin Jackson over the AAA championships and the later boycott of an event by Christie, Jackson and others. This was potentially very damaging to both the BAF and the athletes but, fortunately, through the enlightened attitude of senior athletes Roger Black and Geoff Parsons and a wish by BAF chairman Peter Radford to mend the rift, a solution was eventually found in the shape of a British Athletes’ Association. The deal negotiated by Radford, Black and Parsons was that the management of the sport would be reorganised and