Mark McKoy

Mark McKoy
Medal record
Men's athletics
Representing  Canada
Olympic Games
1992 Barcelona110 m hurdles
IAAF World Indoor Championships
1993 Toronto60 m hurdles
1991 Seville60 m hurdles
Commonwealth Games
1982 Brisbane110 m hurdles
1986 Edinburgh110 m hurdles
1986 Edinburgh4x100 m relay
1982 Brisbane4x100 m relay
Universiade
1983 Edmonton110 m hurdles
Pacific Conference Games
1981 Christchurch 4x100 m relay
Pan American Junior Championships
1980 Sudbury 110 m hurdles

Mark Anthony McKoy (born December 10, 1961) is a Canadian retired track and field athlete. He won the gold medal in the 110 metres hurdles at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. He also won the 60 metres hurdles title at the 1993 IAAF World Indoor Championships, and the 110 metres hurdles titles at the Commonwealth Games in 1982 and 1986. He holds the Canadian records for the 50 metres hurdles with 6.25 secs (1986), the 60 metres hurdles with 7.41 secs (1993), and the 110 metres hurdles with 13.08 secs (1993).

Athletic career

Born in Georgetown, British Guiana, Mark McKoy spent his youth in England, before moving to Canada as a teenager. He attended Clemson University in 1980, but dropped out.

McKoy came to the international athletics scene in 1982 by winning a gold medal in 110 m hurdles and silver in 4 x 100 m relay at the Commonwealth Games. In the next year McKoy finished fourth at the first World Championships and repeated this place at the 1984 Summer Olympics.

In 1986, McKoy repeated his victory in 110 m hurdles at Commonwealth Games and turned his 4x100 m relay silver to gold medal, but finished seventh at the 1987 World Championships.

McKoy finished seventh in the hurdles at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, as he hit a number of hurdles in the final. His compatriot Ben Johnson tested positive for banned substances at the Games. Over the course of the Dubin Inquiry, McKoy was another of Charlie Francis's trainees to admit to doping and he was banned for two years.

McKoy made a comeback at the 1991 World Championships, finishing fourth again in 110 m hurdles. At the Olympic Games in Barcelona, McKoy put his fourth-place streak behind him and won the gold medal in 13.12 seconds. It was the first Canadian Olympic gold medal in track and field since Duncan McNaughton's first-place finish in the high jump competition in 1932. At the 1993 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Toronto he won the 60 m hurdles.

A training mate of Colin Jackson, he appeared with Jackson and Linford Christie in the workout video The S Plan: Get Fit with Christie and Jackson in 1993.

McKoy had emigrated to Austria over the course of his drugs ban and he consequently obtained Austrian citizenship in 1994. He spent the last years of his career competing for his adopted country and set an Austrian record of 13.14 seconds in the 110 m hurdles.[1]

He has since returned to Toronto, where he now works as personal athletic trainer and therapist. He is an older cousin to an athlete in Guyana, Kevin Parker, who runs marathons.

Personal bests

Event Best Location Date
60 metres 6.49 Karlsruhe, Germany 6 March 1993
50 metres hurdles 6.25 Kobe, Japan 5 March 1986
60 metres hurdles 7.41 Toronto, Ontario, Canada 14 March 1993
100 metres 10.08 Villeneuve-d'Ascq, France 2 July 1993
110 metres hurdles 13.08 Villeneuve-d'Ascq, France 2 July 1993

See also

References

  1. ↑ Austrian national records, outdoor Archived 2001-02-22 at the Wayback Machine.
  • Mark McKoy at Sporting Heroes
  • Newall, Liz. "You're in great company." Clemson World. Summer 2007. pp. 10–12.
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