In 1991, middle- and long-distance runner Liz McColgan was voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year, ahead of rubgy player Will Carling and footballer Gary Lineker, whose award was accepted by Tottenham Hotspur teammate Gary Mabbutt. Accepting the trophy from Michel Checklet, Director General of the BBC, she said, “Just like to say that I’m very, very honoured and a personal thank you to each and every viewer who actually took time out and voted for me. It’s been a great year…” She was quick to express her gratitude to her coach, and then husband, Northern Irish athlete Peter McColgan, adding “fifty percent of this award goes to him”.
McColgan, of Dundee Hawkhill Harriers, had won a silver medal in the women’s 10,000 metres at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, albeit a respectful 15 metres or so behind the gold medallist, Olga Bondarenko of the Soviet Union. However, at the 1991 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, despite the heat and humidity, she dominated a high-class field in the final of the women’s 10,000 metres, winning the gold medal in a time of 31:14.31, more than 20 seconds ahead of her nearest rival, Zhong Huandi of China.
McColgan had trained mostly in Gainesville, Florida, in an effort to simulate the conditions she would experience in Japan, but later recounted, “I was dead. I couldn’t handle the heat or the humidity.” She handled it better than her rivals, though, and her performance was all the more remarkable for the fact that she had given birth to her eldest daughter, Eilish, as recently as the end of November 1990. McColgan certainly impressed commentator Brendan Foster, who exclaimed, “The greatest run in the history of British distance running, man or woman, any time, any place, anywhere. That’s the best I’ve seen and it’s better than any I’ve ever read about.”
In June, McColgan also ran a personal-best 30:57.07 for 10,000 metres, which would stand as a Scottish record until her daughter, Eilish, ran 30:19.02 in Hengelo in June 2022. In November, she also travelled to the United States, where she won the New York Marathon in a time of 2:27:32.