I’m an Olympic silver medallist, yet I’ve lived my whole life with chronic heart disease

400m Olympic silver medallist, Roger Black, shares his journey from being diagnosed with congenital heart disease to earning one of world’s greatest sporting accolades  

When Roger Black was 11 years old, he had his heart checked during a school medical examination. 

“They could clearly hear that something wasn’t right. I was taken off to hospital and diagnosed with an incompetent aortic valve. When my heart pumps, the blood goes out but it comes back in again, and that’s what the doctors could hear.”

Subsequently, Roger was told that he was not allowed to engage in any competitive sport.

“I was your classic 11-year-old kid who loved sport. I was always active and I could run fast. To then be told that I had a problem with my heart was very odd for me because I felt absolutely fine.” 

From then on, Roger’s heart was carefully monitored every year. Eventually, as he didn’t seem to have any complications, Roger was permitted to play rugby. However, he didn’t start training in athletics until he was 18 years old. 

“I became an athlete because I messed up my A-levels actually! I was this very fast runner, but I’d never considered becoming a professional sports person. I often wonder if that was because I knew I had a heart condition.”

Roger took a year off to re-do his maths A-level before going to medical school. In this time, he joined Southampton Athletics Club and started training with a group of Olympic athletes, including Kriss Akabusi.

When Roger started training professionally and pushing his body to the extreme, he continued with his check-ups knowing that at any point his doctor could tell him he had to stop his athletics career. 

However, there was one appointment Roger did miss. “In 1996, I was going to my last Olympic Games and I was in really good shape. It was my last chance at standing on the Olympic rostrum and, for whatever reason, I was unable to make that appointment,” says Roger. “Well, the reason was – I knew that no matter what I was told, I wasn’t going to stop training.” 

In 1996, Roger won silver in the Men’s 400m Sprint, coming second to Michael Johnson. When asked what it felt like to stand on the Olympic rostrum, he says, “I felt complete. I’d achieved everything I could, and when I stood off that rostrum a part of me changed. Since that day, I’ve never pushed my heart to the levels I did as an athlete.”

Roger is now 55 years old and still exercises daily. But now, rather than pushing his body to its limit, he goes for a gentle 30 minute jog every day. “From the day I retired, I’ve respected my heart far more than I ever did as an athlete.”

Keeping your heart healthy 

Cardiologist to Tottenham Hotspurs, Professor Sanjay Sharma, has dedicated his career to looking after the hearts of athletes and better understanding how exercise affects heart health. 

“Exercise is something you can do at any time, it’s free, it’s available to every single person no matter your socio-economic status, and it probably has more benefits than any medication that we’ve ever invented,” he explains. “People who exercise regularly reduce their risk of having a heart attack by 50% when they reach their fifties and sixties.” 

To people who have already had a cardiovascular event that may be worried about the safety of exercise, Sanjay says, “The data tells us that whether you have cardiovascular disease or not, the more you exercise, the more you reduce your risk of something bad happening to your heart. But you have to build up very slowly.”

Roger Black also offers a few tips for people who are looking to start an exercise program. “Find someone to train with. I used to train with Kriss Akabusi – I would never let him down, and he would never let me down. And remember that no one knows how you feel better than you do. That awareness of listening to your body is really important. I believe in the power of moving because nothing compares to exercise to benefit our heart.”

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