Athletics: 'I couldn't watch Mark run. I sank to the ground and started saying my prayers'

Olympic gold or football on reality TV, Darren Campbell tells Nick Harris why he loves to win

Friday 01 October 2004 19:00 EDT
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Totally mad. That's the phrase which Darren Campbell will forever associate with the moment he became an Olympic champion in this summer's epic 4x100m relay final alongside Jason Gardener, Marlon Devonish and Mark Lewis-Francis. And he didn't even see it.

Totally mad. That's the phrase which Darren Campbell will forever associate with the moment he became an Olympic champion in this summer's epic 4x100m relay final alongside Jason Gardener, Marlon Devonish and Mark Lewis-Francis. And he didn't even see it.

In his first major interview since winning gold in Athens, and on the eve of his re-emergence into the sporting arena (in a football-based reality TV show), the 31-year-old sprinter revealed that he couldn't bear to watch Lewis-Francis's anchor leg.

And, in a chipper mood despite a flu-like virus that has kept him in bed for much of this week, Campbell also revealed that his success came in spite of, not because of, pre-race sniping from Michael Johnson, America's former Olympic great, now a BBC pundit.

"I had a strange feeling that I'd do something in Greece, but I didn't know what," Campbell said. "In the relay the guys showed such belief, it made the difference. In the past, I've always been extremely positive and maybe some of the others haven't. But straight after the semi-final, when the Americans beat us, the guys were saying, 'Imagine if we win this!'

"We'd made loads of mistakes in the semi, we knew we could do better and they were talking like we could do it. That's what I like to hear."

Even when Gardener false-started in the final, Campbell was calm. "I thought, 'No problem. No problem at all. I know he's ready.'

"I was relaxed, totally focused, I knew who I had to take out. I was thinking 'Don't go early'. I'd gone early in the semi but this was perfect. Jason gave me the baton. I put my head down and ran my heart out. I passed the baton to Marlon. He passed it to Mark in the lead and pretty much from there I couldn't watch."

A sense of déjà vu had got the better of him. In last year's World Championships relay final in Paris, Britain's anchor man, Dwain Chambers, had similarly started the final leg with a lead only to blow it at the death and cede gold to the Americans.

"I just didn't want to see a repeat of that," Campbell said. "I actually couldn't bring myself to watch Mark run. I sank to the ground and started saying my prayers, and then one of the Australian guys tapped me on the shoulder and said, 'Hey, get up! You've won it, mate, you've won!'

"That moment was totally mad, everything I've ever worked for and everything I've ever dreamed about. I've never been in athletics for the money or lifestyle. I've been in it because I wanted to win Olympic gold. That's what I've wanted since I was 11. My life was pretty much set out for me since then."

Victory was all the sweeter for having endured a variety of pre-race snipes from former athletes, with Johnson's insinuation that Campbell had not prepared properly for the Games the most hurtful. Johnson's scepticism that a hamstring injury could genuinely be behind Campbell's disappointments in the individual sprints was the last straw.

"Throughout all that, I never really put my side of it," Campbell said. "To be honest, his remarks were a hindrance, not an inspiration. I really had to pick myself up, put my emotions to one side.

"It bothered me that someone so well-regarded had said such things. A lot of people respect Michael Johnson and I respected Michael Johnson. That's why I got the British team doctor to come out and set the record straight [about the validity of the injury].

"I have a responsibility to people watching me, and if I haven't done my work then I'll hold my hands up, as I've done in the past. That wasn't the case. I didn't shirk.

"What if we hadn't won the relay? I'd have to walk down the street, maybe with people pointing and saying, 'There's the faker'. It's the potential damage to my reputation that hurt me the most.

"All I wanted from Michael Johnson was an apology. If he's man enough to say something, he should be man enough to admit he was wrong."

Happily, Campbell can now focus on the The Match, an eight-day project to be shown on Sky One, starting tomorrow. A team of celebrities, including Campbell, and managed by Graham Taylor, will work towards a showdown against a team of "legends", including Paul Gascoigne, Chris Waddle, Matt Le Tissier, Bryan Robson, Peter Beardsley and Ian Wright, managed by Sir Bobby Robson, in a match at St James' Park next Sunday.

A public vote each night will sort the "celeb squad" wheat from the chaff, but Campbell should have no problems on that score. Several of his team-mates have solid football credentials, including the So Solid Crew star, MC Harvey, an AFC Wimbledon regular, and The Royle Family actor Ralf Little, who once had professional trials, but Campbell arguably has the strongest claims to a starting berth.

Aged 12, he attended the same Trafford School of Excellence as Ryan Giggs. "I was fast, but after watching what he could do, I realised I was never going to be that standard," he said.

A later trial at Derby came to nothing so he concentrated on athletics. In the early Nineties, that didn't seem to be working out so he found a job in insurance and played as a striker in Wales for Cwmbran Town. A scout from Liverpool spotted him, and although he thought Anfield was a step too far, he arranged a trial at Millwall (which came to nothing) and one at Plymouth, where Campbell played eight reserve games and was then offered a two-year professional contract.

Unfortunately, the person who offered it, the incoming manager, Neil Warnock, was too late. Campbell had feared for his security in the hiatus between the departure of Warnock's predecessor, Peter Shilton, and Warnock's arrival. He signed instead for non-league Weymouth, who declined to cancel his contract when Warnock's offer came in the day after it was signed.

Campbell's highlight at Weymouth was an FA Cup match in late 1995, in the second qualifying round against local rivals Dorchester in front of 4,000 people. Weymouth lost 3-2. (By bizarre coincidence, as Campbell re-enters the football fray this weekend, Weymouth and Dorchester meet again, today, in the third qualifying round of the FA Cup).

Campbell quit football in 1996 to return to athletics, a decision clearly vindicated since. Yet as a Manchester United fan, playing against the likes of Bryan Robson in front of tens of thousands is still a thrilling prospect. And unlike the last British sprinter to try his hand at reality television (Chambers in Hell's Kitchen), Campbell is confident he won't implode pathetically like Chambers or one of his soufflés.

Taylor has already made it clear that he really would not like that. In a message on Campbell's answerphone after Taylor learned that the athlete was in his squad, the former England manager said: "Hello Darren, it's Graham Taylor. First of all, let me congratulate you [on Athens]. Totally amazing and I watched it with my grandchildren. I want The Match to be fun too. But I want to win it."

So does Campbell. It's what he does these days, watching or not.

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