Kim_Collins

Kim Collins

Kim Collins

Saint Kitts and Nevis sprinter

Kim Collins (born 5 April 1976) is a former Kittitian track and field sprinter. In 2003, he became the World Champion in the 100 metres. He represented his country at the Summer Olympics on five occasions, from 1996 to 2016, and was the country's first athlete to reach an Olympic final. He competed at ten editions of the World Championships in Athletics, from 1995 to 2015, winning five medals. He was a twice runner-up in the 60 metres at the IAAF World Indoor Championships (2003, 2008). At regional level, he was a gold medallist at the Commonwealth Games and a silver medallist at the Pan American Games. As of 2023, he is the only Individual World Championships Gold medallist from Saint Kitts and Nevis.

Quick Facts Personal information, Nationality ...

Collins holds a personal best of 9.93 seconds for the 100 m, which is a Saint Kitts and Nevis national record and a M40 world record for men over 40. This makes him the only man over forty years of age to break the 10-second barrier. His indoor personal best of 6.47 seconds for the 60 m is a national record and a M35 world record.[2][3]

Collins was the bronze medallist over 200 m at the 2001 World Championships in Athletics and became the 100 m champion at the 2002 Commonwealth Games. He won a silver medal over 60 metres at the 2003 IAAF World Indoor Championships, before going on to take his outdoor crown. He also won sprint medals at the 2005 World Championships, 2008 IAAF World Indoor Championships and 2011 World Championships. A dispute with the Saint Kitts and Nevis administrators saw Collins dropped from the 2012 Olympic Games and he did not return to international duty until 2015.[4]

Biography

Collins competed in college for Texas Christian University.[5] He competed on behalf of his country in the 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, and 2016 Summer Olympics.[6]

Collins made his debut at major championship at the 1996 Olympics, where he qualified for the second round in the 100 m. He improved quickly, and at the 2000 Summer Olympics, he became the first athlete from his nation to qualify for an Olympic final, finishing 7th in the 100 m. The next year, Collins would win St. Kitts' first World Championship medal, when he tied for the bronze medal in the 200 m.

At the 2002 Commonwealth Games, he won his first major title. After the 100 m race, which Collins won after two other favourites pulled out of the final with injuries, he failed a doping test, testing positive for the beta agonist Salbutamol.[7] However, it was found that the banned substance was part of the asthma medication Collins had been taking for several years, but had neglected to mention to the medical commission. Collins eventually was allowed to keep his title, and got away with a warning.[8]

Collins was featured on a set of two stamps from St Kitts issued in 2002.[9]

The 100 m at the 2003 World Championships became the biggest triumph of his career. With Olympic and World Champion Maurice Greene eliminated in the semi-finals, the field was wide open. In a very close race, where the top four athletes finished within 0.02 seconds, Collins won and became the first world champion from Saint Kitts and Nevis.

At the 2004 Olympics, Collins again made the final of the 100, finishing 6th. At the 2005 World Championships, Collins claimed a bronze medal in the 100 m behind Justin Gatlin and Michael Frater though he was given the same time as the latter.

Finishing fourth in his heat, Collins qualified for the finals in the men's 200 m race in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and finished in sixth place on 20 August 2008. He competed at the 2009 World Championships and reached the quarter-finals of the competition, but he was eliminated after finishing in fourth place behind eventual finalists Asafa Powell, Darvis Patton and Marc Burns. He announced his retirement from international athletics in September that year, bringing an end to a career that spanned almost 17 years.[10]

Collins returned to athletics on 29 January 2011 at the Aviva International Match in Glasgow, reversing his retirement at the age of 34, and he finished fourth in the 200 metres. He then won at the Russian Winter Meeting in Moscow.[11] He set a 60 m personal best and national record of 6.52 seconds to win at the PSD Bank Meeting in Düsseldorf, overhauling his best mark which he had set nearly eleven years earlier.[12] That time did not stand for as long, however, as he ran 6.50 seconds in the heats of the BW-Bank Meeting a few days later.[13] Collins won both his heat and semi-final races in the 100m at the 2011 World Championships before finishing third and winning a bronze medal in the final after the disqualification of Usain Bolt.[14] At the men's 4 × 100 m relay qualifying heats, Collins ran the second leg for the St Kitts and Nevis relay squad and helped clock a national record of 38.47, leading to St. Kitts and Nevis' first-ever final. The last event saw Collins team up with Jason Rogers, Antoine Adams and Brijesh Lawrence to clock 38.49 to win the bronze medal.[15]

At the XVI PanAmerican Games in Guadalajara 2011, Collins broke the 28-year-old PanAmerican Games record with a time of 10.00 in the early heat. He finished second in the finals to Jamaica's Lerone Clarke. His silver medal was the first-ever medal for St. Kitts and Nevis at the Pan-Am Games.[16][17]

Collins was expelled by his team from the 2012 Summer Olympics in London on 4 August 2012 for missing training sessions. He said he was being punished for spending time with his wife.[18]

Collins was the oldest sprinter at 2016 Summer Olympics, his fifth consecutive appearance at the Olympics. While most sprinters peak in their 20s, Collins set his personal record after reaching the age of 40, and became the first individual to run a sub-10 second 100 m dash in the process. He ran a 9.93 100 m dash, which was fast enough to qualify for Rio.[19] He competed in both the 100 m sprint and 4 × 100 m relay.[20] Collins was the only St. Kitts and Nevis athlete to make it out of the first round. He finished his heat with a time of 10.18 and fourth place. He improved his time in the semifinals, finishing with a time of 10.12. This put him in sixth place and he did not advance to the finals.[21]

In 2018 Collins announced his retirement, he competed at the 60m at the 2018 IAAF World Indoor Championships. His last performance at a World Championship.

25 August was declared Kim Collins Day by the government of St. Kitts and Nevis in honour of Collins’ gold at the World Championships in Paris, France in 2003.[22]

Statistics

Personal bests

More information Event, Environment ...
  • All information from IAAF Profile[23]

Seasonal bests

Kim Collins during World Indoor Championships 2008 in Valencia

International competition record

More information Year, Competition ...

National titles

Circuit wins

60 metres
100 metres
200 metres
  • Vardinogianneia: 2001
4 × 100 metres relay

See also

References

  1. [1]
    "Kim Collins". Olympedia.org. OlyMADmen. Retrieved 30 September 2021.
  2. [2]
    "Video: Collins runs 6.47 to lower NR and WL in Poland". trackalerts.com.
  3. [3]
    Lukas. "Records Indoor Men". world-masters-athletics.org. Archived from the original on 9 June 2012.
  4. [4]
    Gibson, Owen (4 August 2012). "Kim Collins axed from 100m by St Kitts for meeting wife". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
  5. [5]
    "Kim Collins Captures World Championship – TCU Horned Frogs Official Athletic Site". Gofrogs.cstv.com. 27 August 2003.
  6. [6]
    "Kim Collins Biography and Olympic Results | Olympics at". Sports-reference.com. 5 April 1976. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020.
  7. [7]
    Tom Knight Athletics Correspondent (2 August 2002). "Athletics: Collins keeps 100m gold despite failing drug test". The Daily Telegraph.
  8. [8]
    Duncan Mackay (2 August 2002). "Collins escapes ban despite positive test". The Guardian.
  9. [9]
    Stanley Gibbons stamp numbers 718 & 719
  10. [10]
    Raynor, Kayon (29 September 2009).Collins, 2003 World 100m champion, retires. IAAF. Retrieved 28 September 2009.
  11. [11]
    Nickolai Dolgopolov and Rostislav Orlov (6 February 2011). Isinbayeva makes 4.81m comeback in Moscow. IAAF. Retrieved 14 February 2011.
  12. [12]
    Collins turns back the clock with stunning 60m. Jamaica Gleaner (13 February 2011). Retrieved 14 February 2011.
  13. [13]
    Gordon, Ed (14 February 2011). Three world leads in Karlsruhe. IAAF. Retrieved 14 February 2011.
  14. [14]
    "Bolt disqualified as Blake wins". BBC News.
  15. [15]
    "iaaf.org – International Association of Athletics Federations". Daegu2011.iaaf.org. 4 September 2011. Archived from the original on 30 September 2011. Retrieved 4 September 2011.
  16. [16]
    "Kim Collins sets New Pan Am 100m Record". Miyvue.com. 25 October 2011.
  17. [17]
    IAAF.org (26 October 2011). "Suarez and Armstrong set new records, Clarke outsprints Collins – Pan American Games, Day 3". iaaf.org.
  18. [18]
    Dunbar, Graham. "OLYMPIC SPRINTER SENT HOME FOR MISSING PRACTICE". Associated Press. Archived from the original on 4 August 2012. Retrieved 5 August 2012.
  19. [19]
    "Rio Qualification". Road to Rio. Archived from the original on 28 April 2017. Retrieved 26 April 2017.
  20. [20]
    Timm-Garcia, Jaide; Gibson, Charlie (3 August 2016). "Kim Collins: Veteran sprinter breaks the boundaries of time". CNN. Archived from the original on 27 April 2017. Retrieved 26 April 2017.
  21. [21]
    "Athletics: Men's 100m". BBC Sport. Archived from the original on 5 April 2017. Retrieved 27 April 2017.
  22. [22]
    "Kim Collins Day Celebrated on August 25". The St. Kitts-Nevis Observer. 20 August 2010. Archived from the original on 1 December 2010.
  23. [23]
    "Collins, Kim biography". IAAF. Retrieved 5 February 2009.

Media related to Kim Collins at Wikimedia Commons

More information Olympic Games ...
Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Kim_Collins, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.