Book review: My Autobiography, by Roger Black

Roger Black remains one of the UK’s greatest 400m runners, although as an athlete he does not stand in the same company as world record setters such as Jonathan Edwards, Colin Jackson and Fatima Whitbread.  Despite this, he is a fascinating character and he has written a very worthwhile autobiography.

Roger Black: not a world record holder

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So what did he achieve?

Roger Black is probably most well known for three key achievements, as follows:

• Setting a new British 400m record of 44.37s on 3 July 1996, in Switzerland; and
• Being part of the British 4 x 400m relay team that defeated the strong US team to win the gold medal in the 1991 World Championships in Tokyo; and
• Winning the silver medal at the 1996 Olympics at Atlanta, behind the superhuman Michael Johnson.

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Gold at the Tokyo World Championships

One of the best chapters in the book is about the 4 x 400m relay final at the 1991 Tokyo World Championships.  Roger describes the amazing coup, where some clever strategic thinking lead to the British team defeating the dominant favourites, the US.

First of all, Roger explains that tactics makes a big difference in the 4 x 400m relay, compared with the other relay events.  This is because in the 4 x 400m relay, the runners can break lanes 100m into the second leg.  Consequently, having someone directly behind you, especially if they are intimidating, can put you off your stride.

Is that really important?  Roger explains that in sprinting, especially the 400m, being able to relax while exerting maximum effort is critical.  Having someone upseting your ability to relax makes a big difference.

The night before the 4 x 400m relay final, Frank Dick, the head coach for the British team had decided on the traditional model of the fastest runner last, the second-fastest first.  Consequently,their line-up was as follows:

• Derek Redmond
• Kris Akabusi
• John Regis
• Roger Black

However, during the night, Kris and Roger both realised that this line-up would allow the Americans to develop too great a lead in the first three legs.  The US strategy had previously been to generate a big, demoralising lead and then hang on.  Roger and Kris decided to play them at their own game and shock them into reacting rather than pacing the race properly.  They went back and told the team they wanted to change the order to:

• Roger Black
• Derek Redmond
• John Regis
• Kris Akabusi

This had the remarkable effect of putting the fastest first and the second-fastest second.  The strategy worked and from the outset the Americans were confused and wondering what was going on.

In Roger’s first leg, he obtained the lead and Derek almost managed to retain it, just being passed as he handed the baton over to the hulking John Regis.  This unfortunately for the Americans, was exactly what the British team wanted, as having the frightening Regis chasing them was like having a pitbull set on you.  The mental edge was enough such that even though the final leg runner for the Americans was the gold-medalist Antonio Pettigrew, Kris Akabusi was able to come around him at the end for the win.

In the process, the British team beat the European and Commonweath records.

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Silver behind Michael Johnson

Possibly the best part of Roger’s autobiography is the description of running against Michael Johnson in the 400m final at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.  He finished almost a full second, practically 10m, behind Michael.

As everyone knows, at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, Michael Johnson became the first and only man to have won the Olympic gold medal in both the 200m and the 400m in the same games.   His superhuman feats catapulted him to stardom.

Roger explains how the race could be broken down into the first and second 200m.  He notes that the race is highly dependent on relaxation because of the high anaerobic component.  If you are too tense, after 300m your muscles will be “swimming in lactic acid” and you’ll be going backwards while everyone else floats past you.

He also described how Michael had a unique ability to run the first 200m at around the same speed as the leaders (he was just a fraction ahead of Roger at this point in the race) and then kick off into the distance at halfway.  No-one else in the world could do this.

Roger explains that keeping a cool head and running his own race helped him from trying to chase Michael and blowing up in the process.  He ran his best race, matched is own PR and came home with a silver medal.

Roger notes that to get through that remarkable event with a cool head was a very big challenge.  He describes the feeling of walking out at the Olympic final and seeing 85,000 people in the stands, 80,000 of whom were chanting for Michael… Roger notes that sports psychology techniques such as visualisation and mental preparation drills were vital for ensuring that he ran his own race and didn’t get sucked into someone else’s strategy.

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Other things

There is a weath of information in this book for the interested reader.  Roger describes the British athletics team much more than you might find in other athletic autobiographies, because he was the captain for a time.

Also, like Colin Jackson, Roger suffered greatly from several bad injuries, including stress fractures, and needed a lot of physiotherapy and other specialist help to get him back running again.  Fans of movement-specific rehabilitation (as practiced by Gray Cook and others) might find the discussions of how Rogers’ hip impacted on the rest of his body, including his feet, fascinating.

You can get your own copy here (affiliate link: UK).