Tom McKean
Tom McKean ( born October 27, 1963 in Bellshill, Scotland ) is a former British athlete who won international titles in the 800 -meter run three.
He was like Steve Ovett, Sebastian Coe, Steve Cram and Peter Elliott to the group of British middle distance runner who dominated the competition scene in the 1980s. While his competitors could match almost any pace and thus won medals in a very fast race, McKean had because of its enormous power spurt his best chance in a slow, tactical race marked.
Career
1985 McKean won the UK Championships and the European Cup in Athletics.
The following year, Cram made at the Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh for a pace which no one could follow. He won in 1:43,22 minutes before McKean, who started for Scotland, in 1:44,80 min. Peter Elliott was third, after Coe had indeed qualified for the finals, but did not compete. At the European Athletics Championships in Stuttgart, the three represented British were clearly from the rest of the field. Coe won in 1:44,50 minutes before McKean in 1:44,61 min and Cram in 1:44,88 min.
1987 McKean won again the European Cup and also qualified for the finals at the World Championships in Rome. There, the Brazilian José Luiz Barbosa made for such a high pace that McKean early fell back and then loose the last one trotted to the finish, while the pace harder Elliott won silver behind the Kenyans Billy Konchellah and before Barbosa.
The 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul were very unpleasant for McKean. In the quarterfinals, he could indeed fight his way with difficulty to the necessary to progress in fourth place, but was disqualified because he had used too much in the crowd on the home stretch his elbow. 1989 McKean won again during the European Cup and placed in a sports festival in London his personal best.
The 1990 Commonwealth Games were held from 27 January to 3 February in Auckland instead. In a slow 800 -meter final Kenyans Sammy Tirop and Nixon Kiprotich won before the Englishman Matthew Yates. Coe was sixth ahead of McKean, both far from their normal form. However, McKean won another silver medal with the Scottish 4 x 400 - meter relay behind the squadron Kenya and Jamaica before. A month later, Tom McKean showed in a very different constitution and won at the Indoor Athletics Championships in Glasgow in 1:46,22 min the title with a second ahead of second-placed Spaniard Tomás de Teresa. Even in summer McKean confirmed his reputation as the best Europeans. At the European Championships in Split he won in 1:44,76 min clearly ahead of his teammate David Sharpe.
1991 McKean won for the fourth time in a row, the 800 - meter race at the European Cup. At the World Championships in Tokyo McKean made a rookie mistake in the flow. In the lead he tumbled to the finish and was intercepted at the goal line by Billy Konchellah and the American Mark Everett. McKean resigned while Konchellah and Everett won gold and bronze in the final. At the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona McKean eliminated in the semifinals.
At the World Indoor Championships in Toronto in 1993 McKean ran in the final of the front, avoiding any crowds and won in 1:47,29 min, while the runner came behind him to stumble and Barbosa rushed. In the summer during the European McKean was only third for the first time. In his last major final at the World Championships in Stuttgart McKean took like six years before the eighth.
Personal
Tom McKean is 1.83 m and weighed about 71 kg competition times. After his sporting career he became a policeman in Strathclyde.
Bests
- 800 m: 1:43,88 min, July 28, 1989, London Hall: 1:46,22 min, March 4, 1990, Glasgow