Christopher ("Chris") Lloyd Maddocks (born 28 March 1957) is a male retired race walker from

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...

. He competed in five consecutive Summer Olympics for his native country, starting in

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

. In his final competitive race, the 50 km walk at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 ( Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from ...

in Sydney, Australia, he overcame a hamstring injury to finish in last place. In completing the race, he set the record as the first British track athlete to compete in five Olympic Games. Following his retirement, he became a sports journalist.

Athletic career

Born in

Tiverton, Devon Tiverton ( ) is a town and civil parish in Devon, England, and the commercial and administrative centre of the Mid Devon district. The population in 2019 was 20,587. History Early history The town's name is conjectured to derive from "Twy-fo ...

, he started in athletics as a cross country runner, and had ambitions to run marathons. Prior to the 1980 Summer Olympics in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

, he set a new British record in the 50 km walk, winning in Gydinia. In spite of achieving the Olympic qualifying time, he was not selected for the Games. He broke the record again winning in Paris a month after the Olympics. He then retired from the sport on a "semi-basis" for two and a half years. In 1983, Maddocks improved his British 50 km record again with a ninth-place finish at the IAAF World Cup in Bergen, Norway. He made his first Olympic appearance at the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the sec ...

in Los Angeles, finishing his race in sixteenth place. Maddocks was runner up in the English Commonwealth Games trials in 1986, qualifying him for the 1986 Commonwealth Games in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

. At the Games, he finished the race in fourth position. At the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 of ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

, he finished in 24th position in the men's 20 km walk. In November 1989, Maddocks was part of an invited elite field of international race walkers in the

New York Marathon The New York City Marathon (currently branded TCS New York City Marathon after its headline sponsor) is an annual marathon () that courses through the five boroughs of New York City. It is the largest marathon in the world, with 53,627 finishe ...

. He finished second behind Mexican Carlos Mercenario in a British record 3 hours 14 minutes 37 seconds. The following year, he regained the British 50 km record at

Burrator Burrator is a grouped parish council in the English county of Devon. It is entirely within the boundaries of the Dartmoor National Park and was formed as a result of the Local Government Act 1972 from the older councils of Meavy, Sheepstor and ...

, England, with a winning time of 3 hours 51 minutes 37 seconds. Maddocks's final international race was at the Sydney

. He had set an Olympic qualifying time of 3 hours 57 minutes and 10 seconds when winning the Dutch 50 km championship race in March 2000. Prior to the games he was refused National Lottery funding and he could not find a shoe sponsor, although ASICS sent him a complimentary pair. He injured his

hamstring In human anatomy, a hamstring () is any one of the three posterior thigh muscles in between the hip and the knee (from medial to lateral: semimembranosus, semitendinosus and biceps femoris). The hamstrings are susceptible to injury. In quadrupe ...

before the race but entered the race nonetheless; he fell behind the rest of the athletes. He entered the

Stadium Australia Stadium Australia, currently known as Accor Stadium for sponsorship purposes, is a multi-purpose stadium located in the Sydney Olympic Park, in Sydney, Australia. The stadium, which in Australia is sometimes referred to as Sydney Olympic Stad ...

as ''

I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" is a song written and performed by Scottish duo the Proclaimers, and first released as the lead single from their 1988 album '' Sunshine on Leith''. The song reached number 11 in the UK Singles Chart on its initial re ...

'' by

The Proclaimers ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

was played over the loudspeakers in his honour, and as the 100,000 crowd cheered him on to finish. His time was 4 hours, 52 minutes and 4 seconds, more than an hour after

Robert Korzeniowski Robert Marek Korzeniowski (born 30 July 1968) is a Polish former racewalker who won four gold medals at the Olympic Games and three gold medals at World Championships. Biography Korzeniowski was born in Lubaczów, and is the brother of fello ...

won the race. His completion of the race meant that he became the first British track athlete to compete in five Olympic Games.

Tessa Sanderson Theresa Ione Sanderson (born 14 March 1956) is a British former javelin thrower. She appeared in every Summer Olympics from 1976 to 1996, winning the gold medal in the javelin throw at the 1984 Olympics. She was the second track and field ...

remains the record holder in all sports, having appeared at six Olympic Games for Great Britain. After the 2000 Summer Olympics, his lack of an honour in the New Years Honours List was criticised as he took a break from competitive athletics.

Journalist and Commentator

In April 2002, two months after he started studying journalism at

University of Leeds , mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased , established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds , ...

, Maddocks announced his retirement from professional athletics. He won an award for services to athletics at the 2000 British Athletics Writers Awards, having become a

freelance journalist ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...

following his retirement from professional athletics. He was an analyst for the racewalking events for American

television network A television network or television broadcaster is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, where a central operation provides programming to many television stations or pay television providers. Until the mid- ...

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

in 2012 Summer Olympics and 2016 Summer Olympics. He also commentates at sporting events such as the National 100 mile Centurion Walking championship in 2018.

Personal life

Maddocks lives in Devon with wife Fiona and daughter Eleanor. Whilst he competed, he worked as a

veterinary Veterinary medicine is the branch of medicine that deals with the prevention, management, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, disorder, and injury in animals. Along with this, it deals with animal rearing, husbandry, breeding, research on nutri ...

assistant in Plymouth.

Autobiography

Chris struggled with his inner demons for many years before writing his autobiography. "Money Walks" was published to coincide with the 2012 Olympics, at which time Chris was a specialist TV sports commentator for NBC. The book is available on Amazon.

Publication

''Money Walks - An autobiography by five-time Olympian Chris Maddocks'' (2012). Short Run Press Ltd.

References

External links