Jackson strikes silver in Seoul

Colin Jackson advanced from a bronze medal at the World Championships in Rome in 1987 to win the silver medal at the Olympic Games in Seoul on 26 September, 1988. It was the first time a Welsh athlete had won an individual Olympic medal on the track. Having been fourth fastest in the heats, winning in 13.50 sec), the Cardiff-born Jackson won his quarter-final in 13.37 sec. He then qualified for the final with a third-place finish (13.55 sec) behind Russia’s Vladimir Shishkin (13.46 sec) and America’s Tonie Campbell (13.55 sec). Another American, Roger Kingdom, had broken the Olympic record in the quarter-finals, clocking 13.17 sec, and he was pushed to another landmark by Jackson in the final. Kingdom took the gold in 12.98 sec, with the young Briton taking silver in 13.28 sec. The previous month he had taken the British record down to 13.11 sec in Sestriere, Italy.