Colin Jackson - Post-retirement Career

Post-retirement Career

Since ending his professional career at the 2003 World Indoor Championships Jackson has been a coach, in athletics and other areas. He coached his close friend the swimmer Mark Foster until Foster's retirement in April 2006. He has coached two of Great Britain's top Olympic prospects, 400m runner Timothy Benjamin and 400m hurdler Rhys Williams. He was also one of the members of the successful London 2012 Olympic bid team and is a key member of the BBC's televisions athletics coverage. However, he started his broadcasting career in 2004 by co-hosting, with Sally Gunnell, the BBC reality TV programme Born to Win.

Already the holder of the MBE that he received in 1990 for his services to athletics, in 1992 he was promoted CBE.

The English reggae band Aswad name-checked him on their 1994 hit song Shine: Him a floating like a butterfly, the hurdling man - Yes, me-a-chat about Colin Jackson.

Jackson has written three books, the first, The Young Track and Field Athlete, which was published in March 1996, by Dorling Kindersley, his second, Colin Jackson: The Autobiography, which was published in April 2004 by BBC Books and his last, Life's New Hurdles, which was published in March 2008 by Accent Press Ltd as part of the Quick Read Initiative.

After retiring from athletics, he became the face of BBC Raise Your Game with Colin Jackson in which he interviews high profile, international stars to talk about the importance of learning. Stars such as Luol Deng, Jenson Button, the stars of Strictly Come Dancing and Davina McCall to name but a few.

He is Director of multimedia production company Red Shoes, along with fellow Director and former BBC Exec Producer Richard Owen. Their clients include the IAAF and UEFA.

Jackson took part in an episode of the BBC TV genealogy series Who Do You Think You Are?, broadcast in the UK on 20 September 2006. Of Jamaican descent, genetic tests showed his ancestry to be 55% African, 7% Native American (believed to be from Jamaican Maroon Ancestry on his father's side), and 38% European. His mother was born in Panama, the daughter of Richard Augustus Packer and Gladys McGowan Campbell. Gladys Campbell was from Jamaica, the daughter of a Scottish man Duncan Campbell and his housemaid Albertina Wallace.

In March 2007 Jackson starred as the 'hidden celebrity' in an episode of the award winning CBBC gameshow Hider in the House, hosted by JK and Joel.

In March 2008, an interview with The Voice newspaper, Jackson denied claims that he is gay, adding that he believed the stigma surrounding gay athletes to be a thing of the past.

In 2008, Jackson co-hosted with Louise Minchin, the Sunday morning show Sunday Life on BBC One.

Colin Jackson appeared in the BBC One documentary The Making of Me on July 31, 2008 in attempt to find out what had made him such a talented athlete. A sample of his leg muscle showed that he had 25% super fast twitch fibres, when all previous athletes tested had only 2%. Family support was also thought to have been highly significant. Jamaicans are notable for the high level of support and encouragement they give their children in the area of sports. A notable clip showed a stadium in Jamaica with 30,000 people cheering on children taking part in an average school sports meet. This included their peers, who seemed happy to cheer on their class mates who were 'good at sports'. Although Colin was brought up in the UK, he remembers his parents cheering on Don Quarrie in the 1976 Olympics, inspiring him to want to 'be like that'.

In 2009 Jackson shared his writing tips on the adult learning website BBC raw words. He features in a comedy short with Nina Wadia, Rowland Rivron and Anneka Rice about structuring a story and also shares his writing tips gained from writing Life's New Hurdles.

In July 2010, Jackson entered the BBC television programme Celebrity MasterChef.

He is the brother of actress Suzanne Packer who plays Tess Bateman in the BBC One hospital drama Casualty.

Colin Jackson is also Zeitz Foundation Specialist for Culture.

In 2012 Jackson made a cameo appearance as himself in an episode of the UK TV comedy drama Stella.