The Olympic 110m hurdles silver medallist and double world champion talks through how he first spotted the prodigious teenage talent from Devon
Colin Jackson has revealed the moment he was brought back into coaching by a young athlete called Joshua Taylor.
In an exclusive interview with Tim Hutchings – part of our brand new Legends Series – the Olympic 110m hurdles silver medallist and double world champion explained that Taylor is “going to be really good” and that he “could most probably make the LA 2028 Olympic team”.
Jackson helped train Andy Pozzi but after the 2018 world indoor champion retired last summer, it looked unlikely the 58-year-old would continue coaching. That was until he spotted Taylor, who is based down in Devon and has a personal best of 13.72 in the 110m hurdles at under-20 level.
“I saw this young kid from Devon by the name of Joshua Taylor and I watched him technically go over these barriers,” Jackson said. “It blew my mind. I was like ‘oh mate, what have you done’? Pozzi said to me that Josh was a talent and I was like ‘yeah, I think he’s going to be really good’. I thought we could really work some magic with this young kid. I wasn’t coaching at this point and I had a little bit more freedom, so I thought I could do some more stuff again!
“I was really unsure what I was going to do. I love the fact that I can get involved in coaching Josh along with his coach down in Devon, Lee [Farleigh]. That in itself is brilliant as we can just come together and get him to the very best that he can be.
“When I started working with him I thought he could make the Olympics. Then, over time, I realised he could most probably make the LA 2028 team. If things go well, he should be an Olympic finalist.”
There’s no doubt that Jackson’s experience in the sport is likely to be beneficial for Taylor. At the 1993 World Championships in Stuttgart, the Brit set a world 110m hurdles record of 12.91, which lasted until 2006, when Liu Xiang clocked 12.88 in Lausanne.
Jackson, coached by Malcom Arnold, also secured a world 110m hurdles title at Seville 1999 and claimed an Olympic 110m hurdles silver medal at Seoul 1988. He now wants to pass on the guidance he received and inspire the next generation.
“I worked hard and there’s no doubt about that,” Jackson told Hutchings. “Anyone who worked alongside me knew that as well, I was truly focused on the game. Marry that with my abilities, good training partners and a great coach, then you’ve really got the dream team. For me not to win, it was ‘why are you not winning?’ more than ‘you’re winning’.
“I was doing the best I could do for my team. They were the ones who put me on the start line. My job was a simple one. I always used to say to Malcolm that my job was simple as I only had to race on the track. The difficult thing was preparing me to get ready to race and that was 99% of the cake. I remember Malcom always used to say to me ‘I wish more athletes thought that way’. I just always thought the competition side was the easy bit.”
After retiring from competition over two decades ago, Jackson has had a highly successful post-track career and features as both a BBC pundit and commentator for major athletics championships.
So does his track success over an 18-year period translate into activities he partakes in after hanging up his spikes?
“No,” Jackson said. “That was an answer very quickly! Again, you’ve got to be real. When you’re achieving things like this, the chances of you doing it outside is minimal or non-existent to be honest. In athletics you’re defined to be the best at something for that moment in time. There’s no other industry where you can go ‘I’m the best’.
“When you talk about football, you’ve got this debate around Cristiano Ronaldo v Lionel Messi. People always ask ‘who’s the best’? When you break the world record or become an Olympic or world champion, you are the best on this planet of what you do and that is it. There’s no arguments.
“Now, I don’t seek about being the best for people to say you’re the best. Instead I try and do the best I can possibly do and I just hope that’s always enough. I don’t have that full on definition anymore however and I’m happy to accept that.”
Click here to watch the full Tim Hutchings interview with Colin Jackson
