Masterclass with Olympic Athlete Liz McColgan
On Friday 19 March at 3pm (UK time), we welcome Olympic athlete, Liz McColgan, for our latest online Masterclass.
To register for this event, please complete the form at the bottom of the page. We hope you can join us.
Liz McColgan started running at the age of 12, she progressed steadily through the Scottish rankings and after leaving School at the age of 15 began working at a local Jute Mill in Dundee. At the age of 18 Liz was ranked 3rd in the UK and was offered and accepted a scholarship to Ricks College in the US; this was the first time she had ever left Scotland. Within a year, Liz had won everything and was hotly recruited by several high profile Universities of which she chose Alabama State. The NCAA collegiate system in the US is the toughest in the world but Liz continued to make remarkable progress to the extent that in 1985 she amassed enough individual points at the national championships in 3 events to equal the 5th ranked University team and as a result was awarded the Freedom of Tuscaloosa by Ronald Reagan.
In 1986, Liz returned to the UK and continued progress in distance running. In 1988, at the age of 24, she came 2nd in the Olympic Games over 10,000m leading much of the race and being beaten by a highly controversial Russian athlete. Although initially devastated by the defeat, Liz continued to work hard triumphing on home soil in the Commonwealth Games over 10,000m in Edinburgh. Arguably her best performance came at the World Championships in Tokyo 1991 when she destroyed the field to record the biggest ever winning margin and take gold in incredibly difficult conditions, a performance that BBC commentator Brendan Foster described as the greatest distance running performance by a British athlete in history. Liz went on the set multiple word records and win marathons in London, New York and Tokyo as well as many other global medals and records.
Today, Liz coaches over 70 young athletes in Doha as part of her athletics club for all nationalities providing a unique opportunity for them to develop in athletics in the Middle East. She also coaches her daughter Eilish, who is following in her mother's footsteps by becoming one of the fastest female British athletes of all-time and one of the best in the world.