At age 61, Jamaican-born British Olympic and World 100-metre champion Linford Christie is elated that he has finally learnt to swim, saying it’s one of the best things he has ever done, the Irish Times reported.

Christie, the oldest athlete ever to win the Olympic 100-metre race at 32 when he competed in the 1992 Olympic Games, was born in St Andrew, Jamaica, where he was brought up by his maternal grandmother.

He migrated at age seven to join his parents in London, England. At the Henry Compton Secondary School in Fulham, London, he excelled in physical education, but did not take up athletics seriously until he was 18.

In 1993, he became the first man in history to hold the Olympic, World, European and Commonwealth titles in the 100m. That year he was also voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year by the British public.

Excited about his new-found ability in the water, Christie disclosed that he only learned to swim shortly before the novel coronavirus pandemic began, and has since started a brand new love affair with wild swimming.

“It was one of the best things I’ve ever done. I just really enjoy it, and I didn’t think it was possible to learn in such a short space of time. It took me 12 weeks, or even less, and although it was slow at first, it really picked up,” he was quoted by the Irish Times as saying.

“I found it very tiring but once I got into the swing of it, it wasn’t so far away from running. In some senses, the technique is the same —you’ve got to make yourself tall, streamlined and aerodynamic. I think being an athlete allowed me to pick it up quicker, and process instructions better.”

Christie said he had not given much though to his inability to swim but that he “made sure all my kids could swim, so the motivation was there for me because I didn’t want to be the worst in my family. Once I got into it, I loved it and still do”.

Asked what he found so appealing about wild swimming in particular, he said: “I’m still very much an amateur, but I find it easier to swim in open water than in a pool. I used to think water was just water wherever it was, but the density definitely varies, and I think swimming outside is way, way easier.

“… It’s so peaceful and tranquil — just you and nature, and you gliding along without a care in the world. In that respect, it’s completely different from track and field.”

Though long retired from competitive athletics, Christie said he still goes to the track to lift weights, even though he doesn’t run, adding: “To be in the right mental state, you have to have the right environment, and I can understand the struggle people had in lockdown, when you couldn’t really exercise.”

Sounding like Jamaica’s word fastest man Usain Bolt, he spoke about the rigour of having to train all the time while he was competing, noting that “once you start specialising in sport, you have to start living it 24/7, and when that happened it took a long time to change habits”.

Christie said winning the World Championships and the Olympics was his biggest career high, and being accused of drugs “when I didn’t do anything”, was the biggest low.

In February 1999, after Christie competed in an indoor meet in Dortmund, Germany, a drug test found the banned substance nandrolone. The British Athletic Federation found Christie to be not guilty.

But the IAAF overruled and confirmed a two-year suspension, alleging that the athlete was found to have more than 100 times the normal levels of the metabolites of nandrolone in his urine.

It also rejected UK Athletics argument that there was reasonable doubt whether the drug had been taken deliberately.

“But you can’t dwell on that, you’ve just got to get out there,” said Christie, commenting on the ban. “I do think I could have done more in the sport than I did, but I don’t know if I’d change anything. You make mistakes, and you learn from them.”

He is enjoying his new life as a coach now, telling the news outlet: “I love it, but it’s stressful. I always think back to my coach and wonder how stressed he must have been. When the race starts, sometimes you just think ‘Why can’t you just run that little bit faster?’ It’s easier said than done.”

Asked what he most looking forward to in a post-pandemic world, he said it would be the freedom to travel without 10 days isolating, as “10 days in the life of a sportsperson might as well be 10 months”. – Compiled by Kevin Wainwright and edited by Desmond Allen