Mark Robert Rowland (born 7 March 1963 in Watersfield,

West Sussex West Sussex is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Surrey to the north, East Sussex to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Hampshire to the west. The largest settlement is Cr ...

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) is a retired male distance-runner from the

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, who specialised in the 3000m steeplechase.

Athletics career

Rowland came third in the men's men's 3000 m Steeplechase at the 1988 Olympics behind the

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n competitors Julius Kariuki (gold) and Peter Koech (silver). His time was 8:07.96 minutes which remains a British record. Rowland became the eighth and, thus far, final British athlete to pick up a medal in the steeplechase event at the Olympics. His post-race interview at the track-side was famous for his quote: Two years later, Rowland was beaten to the gold in a sprint finish in the same event at the European Championships in

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by the Italian athlete Francesco Panetta. He also represented

in the 5,000 metres event, at the 1990 Commonwealth Games in

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Coaching career

After retiring, he became a coach to many promising young British steeplechasers and was a steeplechase and middle-distance coach for

UK Athletics UK Athletics (UKA) is the governing body for the sport of athletics (sport), athletics in the United Kingdom. It is responsible for overseeing the governance of athletics events in the UK as well as athletes, their development, and athletics o ...

. While coaching professionally in the United Kingdom, he coached Michael East to his 6th place finish in the 1500m at the 2004 Athens Olympics. In 2008, Rowland became head coach of the Oregon Track Club Elite team, where he coached a number of athletes to Olympic and World Championships medals and finalist positions, including British middle-distance runner Jemma Simpson, American middle-distance runner

Nick Symmonds Nicholas Boone Symmonds (born December 30, 1983) is an American YouTube personality and retired Middle distance track event, middle-distance runner from Boise, Idaho, who specialized in the 800 meters and 1500 meters. At Willamette University, he ...

and distance runner Lauren Fleshman, Botswana middle-distance runner

Nijel Amos Nijel Carlos Amilfitano Amos (born 15 March 1994) is a Botswana Middle-distance running, middle-distance runner who competes in the 800 metres. He won the silver medal at the Athletics at the 2012 Summer Olympics, 2012 London Olympics, which was ...

, Burundian middle-distance runner

Francine Niyonsaba Francine Niyonsaba (born May 5, 1993) is a Burundian runner who specialized in the 800 metres and shifted to longer distances in 2019. She was the 2016 Rio Olympics silver medalist in the women's 800 metres. Her silver medal was the first Oly ...

, and Kenyan distance runner Sally Kipyego, among others. In 2022, Rowland left Oregon Track Club to become an endurance coach at Athletics Canada's west hub in

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International competitions

References

External links

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gbrathletics
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rowland, Mark 1963 births Living people People from Coldwaltham British male steeplechase runners English male steeplechase runners English male middle-distance runners British male middle-distance runners Olympic athletes for Great Britain Olympic bronze medallists for Great Britain Athletes (track and field) at the 1988 Summer Olympics European Athletics Championships medalists Medalists at the 1988 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists in athletics (track and field) Athletes (track and field) at the 1990 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games competitors for England People educated at Midhurst Grammar School