Roger Black
Roger Anthony Black ( born March 31, 1966 in Portsmouth, England) is a former British athlete and Olympic athletes, as well as television presenter and motivator.
Black went to the Portsmouth Grammar School and is described as the perfect student, both what the subject matter was concerned, and in his athletic performance. In his sporting career he won 17 medals at major sporting events. His first major international triumph he celebrated in 1985 at the Junior European Championships in Cottbus, each with a gold medal in the 400 - meter dash and the 4 x 400 - meter relay. In 1986, he won the European Championships in Stuttgart also in these two disciplines, the gold medal, and repeated these two successes at the Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh.
In 1987 he won the silver medal in the 400 - meter race at the World Championships in Rome. After 1987 his young career seemed finished until 1989 and could Black in no major international events more advance into the medal ranks. But in 1990 he was back in top form and won at the European Championships in Split, Yugoslavia each gold over 400 meters and the 4 x 400 - meter relay. At the 1991 World Championships in Tokyo, Japan, he won silver over 400 meters and gold in the 4 x 400 - meter relay. At the European Championships in Helsinki in 1994, he repeated the previous result, while he could originally only reach the silver medal in the 400-meter relay at the 1997 World Championships in Athens. Due to the subsequent disqualification by the American Antonio Pettigrew for doping, however, the British squadron moved on and was later world champion.
Even in the Olympics, he was successful, even though it was never enough to a gold medal. The XVV. 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, he was able to win the team bronze medal, together with his teammates David Grindley, Kriss Akabusi and John Regis, behind the teams from the USA (Gold) and Cuba (silver). The XXVI. 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta he could reach his first Olympic medal in an individual event. He won the silver medal over 400 meters, behind the American Michael Johnson ( gold ) and before the coming of Uganda Davis Komoga ( bronze), and the team silver medal in the 400 - meter relay, along with his teammates Ivan Thomas, Jamie Baulch and Mark Richardson, behind the team from the USA ( Gold ) and before the team from Jamaica (bronze).
Today Black works as a television presenter of several shows and motivator at the BBC. For his services in and around the sport he was in 1995 awarded the honorary doctorate and honored by Queen Elizabeth II with the Order Member of the Order of the British Empire ( MBE).