Linford Christie has had a very eventful life, from winning gold at the Olympics to being embroiled in allegations about infidelity.
Here’s an inside look at his biggest life controversies, from a drugs ban in the late 1990s to his son being jailed…
Who is Linford Christie? What is he famous for?
Linford Christie is a Jamaican-British athlete who represented Great Britain at three Olympic Games in the 1980s and 1990s.
He was the third British man to win the Gold for 100m in the Olympics. He remains the only British man to win Gold for the 100m at the Olympics, European Championships, World Championships, and Commonwealth Games.
The star – the subject of a self-titled BBC documentary – was appointed an MBE in 1990 and OBE in 1998.
Since his running days came to an end, he has made a career for himself in the media. In 2010, he was a contestant on I’m A Celebrity, where he was the sixth person eliminated. He’s also on the new series of ITV’s Cooking With The Stars.
However, despite an impressive career in sport, Linford’s life has been full of controversy.
What are the affair allegations surrounding Linford?
In 2016, it was alleged that Linford had fathered two children with another woman, while he was still married.
The now 64-year-old athlete was in a long-term relationship with Mandy Miller when the allegations were made.
Prior to this news coming out, it was known that Linford had six children from three different women.
However, while he was still with Mandy, he allegedly had an affair with a woman called Letitia Rathbone.
She had two sons with the former Olympian. The eldest he fathered while still in a relationship with Mandy. The youngest he fathered after his relationship with Mandy ended.
A source told the MailOnline at the time: “She [Letitia] lives in a very small neighbourhood and Linford has been visiting for years, so it’s always been common knowledge that her sons are his.”
Why was Linford Christie’s son sent to prison?
In 2018, Linford’s son, Liam Oliver-Christie, was jailed for four years for dealing drugs.
Liam was caught with crack cocaine and heroin with the intention to supply.
He pleaded guilty in court and was sentenced to four years at the time.
However, it wasn’t the first time he’d been in trouble with the law. Back in 2012, he was jailed for 15 months – then at the age of 26 – after letting two friends deal class A drugs from his home.
At the time, his lawyer argued that Liam had always been living “in the shadow” of his father.
Was Linford Christie banned from racing for drug use?
In 1999, Linford competed in an indoor meet in Germany. A routine drug test found nandrolone in his urine.
Nandronolne, which is a steroid, is banned.
After a six-month delay, a disciplinary hearing conveyed by the British Athletic Federation found Linford not guilty. However, the IAAF overruled this and confirmed Linford would be suspended from racing for two years.
Linford has always maintained that he didn’t do anything wrong.
“If I took drugs there had to be a reason to take drugs. I had pretty much retired from the sport,” he said at the time.
“In terms of drug cheating, I could understand why [the International Association of Athletics Federation] would be hard on me if I’d done something wrong,” he told Big Issue in 2019.
“But I did nothing wrong. To this day the powers-that-be still haven’t told the public the truth about what happened. They’re still lying to the public, they know they did me wrong.”
Why wasn’t Linford Christie involved at the 2012 Olympics?
In 2012, the Olympics came to Great Britain. However, despite being one of Britain’s greatest ever track athletes, Linford played no role in the tournament, be it from an ambassadorial standpoint other otherwise.
This is because the British Olympic Association banned him for life for ever having anything to do with the British Olympic team again following his positive drug test.
Speaking to Observer Sport Monthly in 2009, Linford said: “No one’s going to ask because of course I’m a drug cheat!
“You know, I took drugs so therefore what opinion can I have? I did an interview where I said, ‘Athletes should leave the politics to politicians, just get out there and do it.’ And journalists said: ‘He’s a drug cheat anyway, what does he know?’ So what do I know? I’m an idiot.”
Linford is on BBC iPlayer now. Cooking With The Stars repeats Saturdays at 1.05pm on ITV1.
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