Ask any athletics fan to name the greatest British hurdler, and the same answer usually comes back fast: Colin Jackson. For more than a decade he made the 110 metres hurdles look effortless, and his 12.91-second world record survived until 2006.

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Full name: Colin Ray Jackson ·
Born: 18 February 1967 ·
Nationality: Welsh / British ·
Sport: 110 metres hurdles ·
World record: 12.91 seconds (1993–2006) ·
Olympic medal: Silver (Seoul 1988)

Quick snapshot

1Confirmed facts
2What’s unclear
  • No verified net worth figure; estimates range £1–3 million
  • No credible reporting supports a medical condition
  • Future career plans beyond punditry are not public
3Timeline signal
4What’s next

One number carries the whole career: 12.91 seconds. Everything else in the table frames how a boy from Cardiff built a decade of dominance around it.

Label Detail
Full name Colin Ray Jackson
Date of birth 18 February 1967 (The Telegraph (UK national newspaper))
Place of birth Cardiff, Wales
Nationality Welsh / British
Height 1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)
Sport 110 metres hurdles
Personal best (110m hurdles) 12.91 seconds (1993) (Welsh Sports Hall of Fame (official honours body))
Olympic medal Silver (Seoul 1988)
World Championship gold 2 (1993, 1997)
Commonwealth gold 2 (1990, 1994)
Retired 2003

The pattern: those rows capture the hardware, but the real story is a teenager from Cardiff who almost did not specialise in hurdles at all.

What condition does Colin Jackson have?

The short answer: none that any credible outlet has ever reported. The question keeps appearing in search engine results, but it does not trace back to a diagnosis, a statement from Jackson, or a story in a reputable publication.

The upshot

The “condition” rumor is internet noise, not biography. Jackson’s documented history is one of elite performance across two decades — and no verified reporting suggests otherwise.

What are some interesting facts about Colin Jackson?

The pattern in those facts is consistency, not luck. Jackson competed at the top of his event for the better part of two decades, which is why the recurring “condition” question says more about internet curiosity than about his actual biography.

Bottom line: Jackson has no publicly documented medical condition. Readers hunting for one will find rumor, not reporting — and his verified biography is one of sustained elite performance, not illness.

Who is Colin Jackson’s famous sister?

His sister is Donna Jackson, a former Olympic heptathlete who competed for Great Britain (Wikipedia (biographical profile)). Her results rarely made the same headlines as her brother’s, which is why most people meet her through his biography rather than her own.

What this means: the Jackson household produced two international-level athletes, yet only one became a global name. The contrast says more about media attention than about talent.

Where does Colin Jackson live now?

Biographical profiles list his home as Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, in England (Wikipedia (biographical profile)). It is a quiet detail that often surprises people who assume every Welsh sporting icon still lives in Wales.

What nationality is Colin Jackson?

  • He was born in Cardiff on 18 February 1967.
  • He competed for Great Britain throughout his international career.
  • He represented Wales at the Commonwealth Games.
  • Public profiles consistently describe him as Welsh and British.

The pattern: Jackson has always carried two identities at once — Welsh by birth, British in competition colours. He never had to choose between them, and Wales still claims him because of it.

How rich is Colin Jackson?

Jackson has never published financial accounts, and no official statement puts a number on his wealth. Celebrity-wealth trackers have floated figures between £1 million and £3 million, built from his athletics career plus two decades of broadcasting and speaking work.

What to watch

Net worth figures around Jackson circulate without a single primary source. Treat the £1–3 million range as conversation-starter math, not a balance sheet.

The catch: public estimates cannot capture the part of his value that matters — a 13-year world record and two world titles do not depreciate.

Has Colin Jackson ever been married?

No. Jackson has never been married, and in 2017 he came out publicly at the age of 50 (The Guardian (UK broadsheet)). The Mirror has reported that the announcement followed years of avoiding speculation about his sexuality (The Mirror (UK national newspaper)). Since then, he has kept his private life out of the headlines.

Why this matters

Coming out at 50, after a full career in the spotlight, made Jackson one of the most recognised gay athletes in British sport — and the timing was his own choice.

What this means: the public record on Jackson’s personal life is short and deliberate. His sexuality became public when he chose to share it, not when tabloid curiosity demanded it.

What is Colin Jackson doing now?

Jackson retired from athletics in 2003 and later became a regular BBC athletics commentator (Olympics.com (official athlete profile)). He also works as a motivational speaker and fronted the BBC Wales project “Raise Your Game” (Wikipedia (biographical profile)).

Does Colin Jackson still hold a world record?

  • No. His 110m hurdles record of 12.91 seconds was broken by Liu Xiang in 2006.
  • His 60m hurdles world record stood for nearly 27 years before being surpassed (BBC Sport (national broadcaster)).
  • The Welsh Sports Hall of Fame records his 110m record tenure as 20 August 1993 to 11 July 2006.
Bottom line: Jackson no longer owns the record he set in Stuttgart, but his name still frames every conversation about British sprint hurdling. For BBC viewers, he is the voice of the sport; for younger athletes, he is the man who showed it could be done from Cardiff.

The implication: records are temporary, but a voice in the commentary box lasts. Jackson turned an elite career into a third act that keeps him inside the sport.

Colin Jackson’s career timeline

Read the dates in order and the pattern is clear: Jackson kept winning at the highest level while the entire field around him changed.

Year Milestone
18 February 1967 Born in Cardiff, Wales
1986 Silver medal at the Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, aged 19 (The Telegraph (UK national newspaper))
1988 Olympic silver medal in Seoul
1993 World title and world record of 12.91 seconds in Stuttgart (Welsh Sports Hall of Fame (official honours body))
1997 Second world title in Athens
2003 Retires from professional athletics
2006 110m hurdles record broken by Liu Xiang
2017 Comes out publicly at the age of 50

The timeline shows why Jackson outlasted so many rivals: he won major medals before social media existed and stayed relevant long after it arrived.

What we know vs. what’s still unclear

Confirmed facts

  • Olympic silver medalist at Seoul 1988
  • World record of 12.91 seconds from 1993 to 2006
  • Two-time world champion in the 110m hurdles
  • Sister Donna Jackson is a former Olympic heptathlete
  • Never married; came out publicly in 2017

What’s unclear

  • Exact net worth: no official figure; estimates range £1–3 million
  • Any medical condition: no credible reporting confirms or denies one
  • Whether he still trains or competes informally: no public record
  • Long-term plans after current broadcasting and speaking work
  • Details of his private life since 2017, which he keeps out of the press

The split is telling: the confident half is about what Jackson did on the track; the uncertain half is almost entirely about money and privacy — the corners of a public life that rarely come with reliable paperwork.

Quotes and context

The words around Jackson’s career — his own and the coverage he inspired — explain why he still holds attention. At the BBC Wales “Raise Your Game” project, Jackson described the challenge of motivating young athletes in a single unfinished thought:

If I could just bottle…

Colin Jackson, BBC Wales “Raise Your Game”

The Guardian captured the dual shape of his public life in its own framing when he came out:

Phenomenal athlete who came out at 50.

The Guardian (UK broadsheet)

The Mirror’s reporting added the crucial context about the years before that announcement: Jackson’s public coming-out followed a long stretch of avoiding speculation about his sexuality (The Mirror (UK national newspaper)).

The pattern across those voices: Jackson’s talent was never in dispute, but the public conversation around him quietly shifted from medals to identity — and he controlled how that shift happened.

Colin Jackson’s records will keep slipping down the lists as new generations run faster. What remains is the shape of his career: a Welsh teenager who became the world’s best at one event, held the record for 13 years, then built a second life in the broadcasting booth. For the next wave of Welsh athletes, the lesson is direct: stay consistent long enough, stay visible after retirement, and live your life on your own terms. The record books will keep changing — the career blueprint won’t.

Additional sources

24ur.com, thesun.co.uk, walesonline.co.uk, thesun.co.uk

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Frequently asked questions

How many Olympic medals does Colin Jackson have?

One. He won silver in the 110m hurdles at the Seoul 1988 Olympics.

What is Colin Jackson’s height?

Biographical profiles list him at 1.82 m (6 ft 0 in).

When did Colin Jackson come out as gay?

He came out publicly in 2017, at the age of 50, in an interview covered by The Guardian and other British outlets.

What is Colin Jackson’s shoe size?

No reliable public source lists his shoe size.

Does Colin Jackson have any children?

No reliable public reporting documents children, and Jackson has not discussed any.

What records does Colin Jackson still hold?

None. His 110m hurdles world record of 12.91 seconds fell to Liu Xiang in 2006, and his 60m hurdles record was broken after standing for nearly 27 years.

What school did Colin Jackson attend?

Public profiles do not detail his secondary schooling. Welsh Athletics notes that he started serious training as a teenager with national coach Malcolm Arnold.

What is Colin Jackson’s favourite food?

That detail does not appear in any credible public source.

The pattern: firm answers exist for career questions, while personal and financial details stay off the record. That boundary is Jackson’s own construction, and he has held it for decades.

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