Darren Campbell

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Darren Campbell (born September 12, 1973) is an English sprint athlete.

Born in Manchester, England, Darren made a very bright start to his athletics career winning the 100m and 200m gold medals at the 1991 European Junior Championships held in Thessaloniki, Greece and following this up with silver medals in the same events a year later at the 1992 World Junior Championships, beating Ato Boldon both times. But cursed with injury he took time off from athletics to play football for Plymouth Argyle F.C., Cwmbran Town, Inter Cardiff, and Newport County A.F.C. amongst others.

After returning to the track in 1995 he was sufficiently recovered enough to represent Britain in the Summer Olympic Games the following year and with a few hiccups along the way has made himself into a regular in the national team.

In 1998 saw Darren win the 100 m. at the European Championships, and win gold in the  x 100 m. relay. But at the Commonwealth Games that year he could only win the  x 100 m. relay.

1999 saw Darren win a sliver medal in the  x 100 m at the World championships in Sevillie however in his individual event he was elimated in the semi-finals.

The 2000 Olympic Games saw him take a silver medal in the 200 m. The gold in that event was won by Kenteris of Greece, whose credibility came to be questioned after he absconded with teammate Ekaterina Thanou in the run up to the 2004 Olympics in order to avoid a drugs test. Some wondered if Campbell might now be given the 200m title from 2000 but Kenteris has not been disqualified.

In 2001 Darren was again hit by injury, which made him miss the majority of the year's competitions.

2002 saw Darren compete in his home town at the Commonwealth Games. He could only manage bronze in his individual event the 200 m. but brought home the gold in the 4 x 100 m. relay along with squad members Jason Gardener, Marlon Devonish and Allyn Condon.

In 2003 Darren went to the Paris World Championships where he took bronze again in the 100 m. and bettered this in the relay, taking silver.

At the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Campbell was suffering from a hamstring injury and exited in the early rounds of both the 100 m and 200 m. However, along with Gardener, Devonish and Mark Lewis-Francis, he won a stunning gold medal in the 4 x 100 m. relay, where the quartet defeated the United States team by just 0.01 seconds, in a season's best of 38.07.

Achievements

Year Tournament Venue Event Result Extra
1991 European Junior Athletics Championship Thessaloniki, Greece 100 m 1st
200 m 1st
4 x 100 m 2nd
1992 World Junior Championships Seoul, South Korea 100 m 2nd
200 m 2nd
4 x 100 m 1st
1996 European Cup Madrid, Spain 4 x 100 m 3rd
1997 World Championships Athens, Greece 4 x 100 m 3rd
1998 European Championships Budapest, Hungary 100 m 1st
4 x 100 m 1st
Commonwealth Games Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 4 x 100 m 1st
1999 World Championships Seville, Spain 4 x 100 m 2nd National Record 37.73s
European Cup Paris, France 4 x 100 m 1st
2000 Summer Olympics Sydney, Australia 200 m 2nd
European Cup Gateshead, England 100 m 1st
4 x 100 m 1st
2002 European Championships Munich, Germany 100 m 3rd
4 x 100 m 1st
Commonwealth Games Manchester, England 200 m 3rd
4 x 100 m 1st
2003 World Championships Paris, France 100 m 3rd
4 x 100 m 2nd (later stripped
due to Dwain Chambers
failing a drugs test)
European Cup Florence, Italy 4 x 100 m 3rd
2004 Summer Olympics Athens, Greece 4 x 100 m 1st

As well as these performances, during his career Darren has also won seven national titles at either the 100 or 200 metres.

Olympic medalists in athletics (men) | Olympic Champions in Men's 4x100 m relay
1912 Great Britain David Jacobs, Henry Macintosh, Victor d'Arcy & William Applegarth
1920 United States Charlie Paddock, Jackson Scholz, Loren Murchison & Morris Kirksey
1924 United States Loren Murchison, Louis Clarke, Frank Hussey & Alfred LeConey
1928 United States Frank Wykoff, James Quinn, Charles Borah & Henry Russell
1932 United States Robert Kiesel, Emmett Toppino, Hector Dyer & Frank Wykoff
1936 United States Jesse Owens, Ralph Metcalfe, Foy Draper & Frank Wykoff
1948 United States Barney Ewell, Lorenzo Wright, Harrison Dillard & Mel Patton
1952 United States Dean Smith, Harrison Dillard, Lindy Remigino & Andy Stanfield
1956 United States Ira Murchison, Leamon King, Thane Baker & Bobby Joe Morrow
1960 United team of Germany Bernd Cullmann, Armin Hary, Walter Mahlendorf & Martin Lauer
1964 United States Otis Drayton, Gerald Ashworth, Richard Stebbins & Bob Hayes
1968 United States Charles Greene, Melvin Pender, Ronnie Ray Smith & Jim Hines
1972 United States Larry Black, Robert Taylor, Gerald Tinker & Edward Hart
1976 United States Harvey Glance, John Wesley Jones, Millard Hampton & Steven Riddick
1980 Soviet Union Vladimir Muravyov, Nikolay Sidorov, Aleksandr Aksinin & Andrey Prokofyev
1984 United States Sam Graddy, Ron Brown, Calvin Smith & Carl Lewis
1988 Soviet Union Viktor Bryzgin, Vladimir Krylov, Vladimir Muravyov & Vitaly Savin
1992 United States Mike Marsh, Leroy Burrell, Dennis Mitchell & Carl Lewis
1996 Canada Robert Esmie, Glenroy Gilbert, Bruny Surin & Donovan Bailey
2000 United States Jon Drummond, Bernard Williams, Brian Lewis & Maurice Greene
2004 Great Britain Jason Gardener, Darren Campbell, Marlon Devonish & Mark Lewis-Francis

Olympic medalists in athletics (men) | Post-war British Olympic champions in men's athletics
1956: Chris Brasher (3000 m steeplechase) | 1960: Don Thompson (50 km walk) | 1964: Ken Matthews (20 km walk) | 1964: Lynn Davies (long jump) | 1968: David Hemery (400 m hurdles) 1980: Allan Wells (100 m) | 1980: Steve Ovett (800 m) | 1980 & 1984: Sebastian Coe (1500 m) | 1980 & 1984: Daley Thompson (decathlon) | 1992: Linford Christie (100 m) | 2000: Jonathan Edwards (triple jump) | 2004: Jason Gardener, Darren Campbell, Marlon Devonish & Mark Lewis-Francis (4 x 100 m relay)
de:Darren Campbell