Christian Malcolm on his football past

Olympic 200m finalist Christian Malcolm has been one of the world’s top sprinters for the past decade. He spoke to spikesmag.com about how his background in football helped his career on the track.

What is your football background?
I played for Notts Forest and QPR. I was 12 when I went for trials at Notts Forest and I went back and forth for a couple of years. I played for QPR when I was aged 15. I played a couple of games on a Sunday and a couple of schoolboy games against Arsenal, Oxford and Chelsea. I played as a right winger.

At that point was football your main goal?
It was my first love. I started playing football when I was eight years old. I’ve always loved running but I was always a busy footballer – I played for my town [Newport] and I played for my county and made the Welsh under-15 squad. I didn’t get into the team but made the squad. I actually played in the same county team [Gwent] as Craig Bellamy [Manchester City footballer] and Danny Gabbidon [West Ham United footballer]. Mine and Gabbidon’s team were the two best teams in the county, so when it came to the cup finals we had big battles.

Was it obvious that Bellamy and Gabbidon would make it in the professional game?
Bellamy I would say, yes because he was very skilful, even though he was small back then, and a natural finisher. We were big rivals because he was Cardiff and I was Newport. Every year we played each other twice. It was always a big, big grudge match Newport v Cardiff.

Why did you decide to pursue a career in athletics?
It was to do with my old coach, Jock Anderson [pictured right]. He knew I was a good footballer and he had seen me run – I had started running when I was 13 but I would only turn up running in the summer and I might go once-a-week. It was when I turned 15 or 16 and I spoke to one of the scouts at Notts Forest and he broke it down to me about difficult it is to break into football. He said you could get offered an apprenticeship in the Premiership but it doesn’t mean you are going to breakthrough.

I spoke to my old coach and he said, ‘I know you are a good footballer, but if you put the work in and we work together we could make it through.’ He thought I had the talent to be one of the best sprinters in the world. I was 16 years old and to hear that from him really gave me the belief I could give this a go. I also realised in football I could have the best game of my life but still lose 2-0, but if you run your best, at least you come away with something.

Was it difficult to walk away from football?
It was and it wasn’t. QPR didn’t offer me an apprenticeship. I was in talks with Notts Forest but I decided on athletics.

Would you encourage other footballers to get involved in athletics?
Definitely. There are so many footballers out there, so why not try a different event. They have the ability and the stamina to play for 90 minutes, the speed and agility. You must be able to do something in athletics. Whether it is high jumping, long jumping or the 1500m.

When did you play your last football game?
I was 17 when I played my last game. It was quite sad because we had been together since we were eight. We were a very successful team, Easewell United, which is a local club in Newport.

What has athletics given you that perhaps football wouldn’t have done?
It is allowed me to travel and meet a lot of people. I’ve made a lot of friends. It has made be stronger because even though you have training patterns it is an individual sport, so you have to be strong in yourself you have to be able to take the hard knocks and come back from that on your own. It’s given me a self-belief that I can do things on my own.

It’s made me not so nervous to go out to the big wide world. I’ve had some hard times and it has made me stronger and made me broad-minded. You travel to a meet and you are left at the airport, what do you do? You room with people you don’t know or who don’t speak the same language and you have to spend two or three days with them to encourage them and find a way of communicating. I’ve learned so much from athletics it is unbelievable.

Christian Malcolm is supporting Sony Ericsson Run To The Beat on 27 September, 2009 (at O2 Arena, Greenwich). Entries are now open visit www.runtothebeat.co.uk for further details.