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1992 Barcelona: Mark McKoy

Broadcast Date: March 8, 1983

A young Mark McKoy keeps CBC hosts Tammy and Trevor on their toes. The celebrated track star provides instruction on proper stretching and dissects the elegant arc and flight of hurdling. At age 20, McKoy leaped onto the international track scene, winning the 1982 Commonwealth Games gold medal in the 110-metre hurdles event. McKoy's future seemed unquestionably promising. But the next decade would be rife with obstacles and McKoy would have to fight his way back to the top in Barcelona.

McKoy's descent begins in 1988 at the Seoul Summer Games. When Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson fails his drug test, McKoy flees Seoul without having run, as scheduled, in the 4x100-metre relay event. After admitting that he experimented with steroids, McKoy is suspended for two years. He will not surface again until the 1992 Summer Olympics where many write him off as a 30-year-old might-have-been. But in a rapid-fire 13.12 seconds, McKoy races to victory and becomes the oldest man to win the 110-metre hurdles event.

1992 Barcelona: Mark McKoy

• Mark McKoy was born on Dec. 10, 1961, in Georgetown, Guyana. His family immigrated to Toronto in 1973.
• Before McKoy's golden performance, the last Canadian to win a track and field gold medal had been Duncan McNaughton in 1932 in the high jump event.

• After marrying an Austrian athlete, McKoy moved to Austria following the Olympics. He became an Austrian citizen and competed for his new country for two years. He retired from competition in 1996.
• As of 2004, McKoy worked as a personal trainer at the Institute for Sports Medicine in Etobicoke.

1992 Barcelona: Mark McKoy

Medium: Television

Stock-shot

Program: Yes You Can

Broadcast Date: March 8, 1983

Guest(s): Mark McKoy

Interviewer: Tammy Bourne, Trevor Bruneau

Duration: 4:39

Last updated:
Nov. 2, 2004