Liz McColgan

Liz McColgan-Nuttall
MBE

Personal information
Birth name	Elizabeth Lynch
Nationality	United Kingdom
Born	(1964-05-24) 24 May 1964 Dundee, Scotland
Height	1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Weight	45 kg (99 lb; 7.1 st)
Sport
Country	Great Britain  Scotland
Sport	Running
Event(s)	10,000 metres Marathon 3,000 metres
Club	Dundee Hawks
Medal record Women's athletics Representing  Great Britain Olympic Games 1988 Seoul 10,000 m World Championships 1991 Tokyo 10,000 m World Indoor Championships 1989 Budapest 3000 m World Cross Country Championships 1987 Warsaw Women's race 1991 Amoriebieta Women's race World Half Marathon Championships 1992 Newcastle Women's race Representing  Scotland Commonwealth Games 1986 Edinburgh 10,000 m 1990 Auckland 10,000 m 1990 Auckland 3,000 m

Elizabeth McColgan-Nuttall MBE (née Lynch, born 24 May 1964) is a Scottish former middle-distance and long-distance track and road-running athlete. She won the gold medal for the 10,000 metres at the 1991 World Championships, and a silver medal over the same distance at the 1988 Olympic Games. She was also a two-time gold medallist over the distance at the Commonwealth Games, as well as winning the 1992 World Half Marathon Championships, 1991 New York City Marathon, 1992 Tokyo Marathon and 1996 London Marathon. Her 10,000 metres best of 30:57.07 set in 1991, made her only the third woman in history to run the distance in under 31 minutes. Both that time and her marathon best of 2:26:52 in 1997, still stand as Scottish records (as of 2016).

Early life

Born Elizabeth Lynch,^[1] she grew up in the Whitfield area of Dundee^[2] and was a pupil of St Saviour's RC High School.

She joined her local athletics club, the Hawkhill Harriers, at age 12 at the advice of her PE teacher Phil Kearns^[3][4] Coached by Harry Bennett, she soon discovered a talent for distance running and won her first UK titles at the age of 18.^[3] Following Bennett's death, McColgan self-coached in preparation for the Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh in 1986.^[3]

Athletics career

At the 1986 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, as Liz Lynch, she took the gold medal in the 10,000 metres, finishing nearly 12 seconds ahead of the nearest competitor and giving the host country its only gold medal in Athletics.^[5] Earlier that year, she had won the NCAA National Championship in the mile run representing Alabama Crimson Tide in the American collegiate Indoor Track and Field national Championships. In 1987, she won a silver medal at the World Cross Country Championships in Warsaw representing Scotland (Great Britain would not send a single team to the World Cross until 1988). She finished just one second behind Annette Sergent of France, but ahead of Ingrid Kristiansen. In September, she improved the UK 10,000 m record to 31:19.82 in finishing fifth at the World Championships in Rome, in a race won by Kristiansen.

In 1988, now competing as Liz McColgan, she further improved her own UK record with 31:06.99 in July, to defeat Kristiansen in Oslo. Almost three months later, she ran 31:08.44 to win an Olympic silver medal in the inaugural women's 10,000 metres at the Seoul Olympics. She was defeated by the Soviet Union's Olga Bondarenko. McColgan won silver in the 3,000 metres at the World Indoor Championships in 1989. In January 1990, she became the only Scot to successfully defend a Commonwealth title at the 1990 games in Auckland, New Zealand, when she took the gold for the 10,000 metres again, as well as taking bronze in the 3,000 metres.^[2] She would then miss the rest of the 1990 season due to pregnancy, giving birth to her daughter (future Olympic athlete) Eilish in November.

McColgan made a quick return to the sport and won a bronze medal at the 1991 World Cross Country Championships. In June 1991, she ran her lifetime best for the 10,000 m with 30:57.07 in Hengelo, to move to second on the world all-time behind Ingrid Kristiansen, narrowly ahead of Olga Bondarenko. In August 1991, she won gold in the 10,000 metres at the World Championships in Tokyo, Japan.^[6] In November of that year at the New York City Marathon, her first marathon, she won with a time of 2:27.23, breaking the record for a debut marathon by three minutes.^[7]

In March 1992, McColgan struggled to a 41st-place finish at the World Cross Country Championships in Boston. Then in the summer, she finished fifth in the 10,000 m final at the Barcelona Olympics. In September, she won the inaugural World Half Marathon Championships, where she also helped the British team claim the silver medal in the team competition. Two months later, she won the Tokyo International Women's Marathon.

After more than two years struggling with injuries, McColgan finished fifth in the 1995 London Marathon and sixth in the 10,000 m final at the 1995 World Championships in Gothenburg. In 1996, she won the London Marathon with a time of 2 hours, 27 minutes and 54 seconds, before going on to finish 16th in the marathon at the Atlanta Olympics. She went on to finish second in the London Marathons of 1997 and 1998, running her career best time of 2:26:52 in 1997.

McColgan retired from competing in August 2001 when she fractured a bone in her foot while training for selection for the 2002 Commonwealth Games.^[8] However she returned in 2004 to win the Scottish Indoor Championships 3000 metres (in 9:31). In 2007, she ran the London Marathon, finishing 25th in 2:50:38. She also completed the 2010 New York Marathon in 3:10:54.

Personal life

In 1987 she married Northern Irish athlete Peter McColgan; they have five children: Eilish, Martin, Eamonn, Kieran and Orla. The eldest, Eilish, won the 2004 British cross country championships in her age-group, was ranked top in Scotland over 800 metres and 1500 metres in her age-group and competed in the 2012 Summer Olympics in the 3000 metres steeplechase.^[9] The couple separated in November 2010 and finalised their divorce in March 2013.^[10][11] On 18 January 2014, McColgan was married to John Nuttall,^[12] a coach who has worked as head of endurance coaching for British Athletics and the ASPIRE Academy, Qatar. McColgan-Nuttall has been recruited by the Qatar Athletics Federation to identify and develop endurance athletes ahead of the 2019 World Championships in Athletics.^[13]

Awards

In December 1991, McColgan appeared on This Is Your Life and was voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year.^[14] She was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire for services to sport in 1992 and inducted to the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame in 2004.^[15]

Achievements

Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Event	Notes
Representing  Scotland
1986	Commonwealth Games	Edinburgh, Scotland	1st	10,000 m	31:41.42
1987	World Cross Country Championships	Warsaw, Poland	2nd
1990	Commonwealth Games	Auckland, New Zealand	1st	10,000 m	32:23.56
			3rd	3,000 m	8:47.66
Representing  Great Britain
1986	European Championships	Stuttgart, West Germany	12th	3000 m	9:02.42
			7th	10,000 m	31:49.46
1987	World Championships	Rome, Italy	5th	10,000 m	31:19.82
1988	Olympic Games	Seoul, South Korea	2nd	10,000 m	31:08.44
1989	World Indoor Championships	Budapest, Hungary	6th	1500 m	4:10.16
			2nd	3000 m	8:34.80
1991	World Cross Country Championships	Antwerp, Belgium	3rd
	World Championships	Tokyo, Japan	1st	10,000 m	31:14.31
	New York City Marathon	New York, United States	1st	Marathon	2:27:32
1992	World Cross Country Championships	Boston, United States	41st
	Olympic Games	Barcelona, Spain	5th	10,000 m	31:26.11
	World Half Marathon Championships	Newcastle, United Kingdom	1st	Half marathon	1:08:53
	Tokyo Marathon	Tokyo, Japan	1st	Marathon	2:27:38
1993	World Cross Country Championships	Amorebieta, Spain	5th
	London Marathon	London, England	3rd	Marathon	2:29:37
1995	London Marathon	London, England	5th	Marathon	2:31:14
	World Championships	Gothenburg, Sweden	6th	10,000 m	31:40.14
	Tokyo Marathon	Tokyo, Japan	7th	Marathon	2:30:32
1996	London Marathon	London, England	1st	Marathon	2:27:54
	Olympic Games	Atlanta, United States	16th	Marathon	2:34:30
1997	London Marathon	London, England	2nd	Marathon	2:26:52
1998	London Marathon	London, England	2nd	Marathon	2:26:54
2007	London Marathon	London, England	25th	Marathon	2:50:38

References

External links

• lizmccolgan.com
• Liz McColgan profile at IAAF

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Paul Gascoigne	BBC Sports Personality of the Year 1991	Succeeded by Nigel Mansell
Sporting positions
Preceded by Ingrid Kristiansen	Women's 5,000 m Best Year Performance 1987–1988	Succeeded by Kathrin Weßel
Preceded by Tegla Loroupe	Zevenheuvelenloop Women's Winner (15 km) 1994	Succeeded by Helen Kimaiyo