I started track and field when I was 12 and didn't get to an Olympic Games until I was nearly 23. By any stretch of the imagination that's a very long apprenticeship.

Many track and field people know that if I stay relaxed and run my race like I'm supposed to, I will be the winner at the Olympic Games.

I went to Moorehouse College. There was no track and field there.

I began with track and field because this is what I know.

Track and field was very big when I was growing up.

I had a very ordinary background in Sheffield; I went to a secondary modern, but I saw something on TV in 1968 that inspired me to join an athletics club, and 12 years later, with great coaching and the support of people who loved me a lot, I ended up at an Olympic Games.