Unbreakable Chris launches bid to hammer world record

Published on Thursday 12 November 2009 08:34

HE IS nearly 60 and has just undergone hip replacement surgery for the second time, yet veteran Olympic hammer thrower Chris Black is planning an astonishing return to his sport.

Just five months after major surgery, the one-time Commonwealth and Olympic athlete is training for an attempt at breaking the British hammer throwing record for his age group.

If he can do that, he'll attempt to snatch the world record, too. The last time he broke a world record was just months after undergoing his first hip op.

To make it all the more incredible, Chris, 59, who lives in Prestonfield, suffered a heart attack last year and underwent surgery to insert stents into his arteries.

He has also had a string of other operations – including one to repair his kneecap after it sheared during a "strongman" contest, and another to insert a piece of bull's bone in his vertebrae to release a crushed nerve.

Yet he is confident of success. He said: "Now my hips are sorted, I'm throwing the hammer as well as some of the young guys out there – probably better!

"My Scottish record throw of over 75 metres has been standing for 35 years, no-one's come close to beating it.

"If I'd had the kind of training and support athletes today have, I wouldn't have ended up wrecking my body and needing all these operations. But I'm the living proof that life does go on, even after a hip replacement."

Chris took up hammer throwing in his late teens and went on to have a glittering career.

He competed in two Olympics – he took seventh place in the 1976 games at Montreal, and the same in 1980 at Moscow – and he starred in four Commonwealth Games, where he took the bronze medal in 1978 and 1982.

Later, he went on to compete in Highland Games and various strongman competitions but the physical toll on his body was beginning to tell on his left hip.

"At one point I could barely stand up to put on my trousers," said Chris. "But after the first hip operation I went straight back into training and around six months later got third place in the Scottish Championships, even though I was 51 at the time."

He became world champion in the over-50s category and broke the world record by throwing a 6kg hammer 66.92m.

As his second hip began to wear away, Chris opted to concentrate on training Commonwealth Games hopefuls Mark Dry and Edinburgh-based Andy Frost.

X-rays showed the "ball" of the joint had broken, but because Chris, a design engineer at Selex at Crewe Toll, was overweight and had high blood pressure, he was considered unsuitable for surgery.

He managed to lose two-and-a-half stones in just 30 days. Within five weeks of surgery, he was back at the gym. He said: "I'll be 60 in January, so my target is to break the British over-60s record first and then go for the world record. I'm not ready for my pipe and slippers yet."

He will have to throw a 5kg weight at least 53m to break the British record and more than 63m to gain the world record.

NHS Lothian surgeon Colin Howie, who performed Chris' second operation, said: "Chris shows that life does not have to slow down or that patients will have to give up things they like to do.

"He will be an inspiration to many who are about to undergo a hip replacement."

NO PAIN, NO GAIN . .

CHRIS Black's sporting success has come at a price.

He damaged his back swinging a hammer at a British training camp in 1984. Eventually he underwent surgery to insert a piece of bull's bone through his throat and into his vertebrae to release the crushed nerve.

His right kneecap then sheared off during a "strongman" competition in 1988 as he attempted to lift barrels on to a truck.

Despite the pain, he couldn't face waiting in casualty to have it fixed, so tied a rope to his foot so he could lift his leg to walk, and went for a pint instead.

Surgeons then reattached his kneecap but he could barely bend his leg. Yet he continued to do training squats on just one leg.

It's thought that years of heavy training may have contributed to the wear on his hips.