Athletics: McKean inducted into hall of fame

Oct 9 2008 by Andrew McGilvray, Hamilton Advertiser

WORLD, European and Commonwealth 800m medallist Tom McKean last week became the sixth athlete to be inducted into the scottishathletics Hall of Fame.

McKean (44), a former member of Motherwell Athletics Club, follows Allan Wells, Eric Liddell, Liz McColgan, Wyndham Halswelle and ex-Motherwell AC runner Yvonne Murray into the Hall of Fame.

Bellshill-born McKean won 800m gold in the European Championships in Split, then a part of Yugoslavia, in 1990, the 1990 European Indoor Championships and the 1993 IAAF World Indoor Championships.

The 1986 European Championships in Stuttgart, Germany, saw McKean split Sebastian Coe and Steve Cram to take the silver merdal and he also won successive European Cup 800m titles from 1985-1991.

McKean twice won Commonwealth silver over 800m in Edinburgh in 1986, and in the 4x400 relay in Auckland, New Zealand, in 1990.

His 800m personal best of 1:43:88, set at London’s Crystal Palace, ranks Tom fifth in the UK all-time list for the distance.

Mark Hollinshead, who is chair of scottishathletics, said this week: “Can it really be 20 years ago that Tom was putting together four European Cup wins in a row?

“The passage of time has put his achievements into context and some of them may not be repeated for many years.

“He is a worthy number-six inductee in this line-up of legendary athletes.”