Liz McColgan (nee Lynch) was a talented youngster, regularly battling with her great rival Yvonne Murray in cross-country events but McColgan’s career began to blossom when she was offered a sports scholarship to Idaho University, before transferring to Alabama University, where she won a prestigious NCAA title but her indoor title in 1986 was her last, as she was barred from competition due to unintentionally breaching prize-money laws.

However, McColgan quickly made an impression on the international circuit, winning the Commonwealth 10000m title in front of her homecrowd in Edinburgh, defeating New Zealand’s Anne Audain in a tremendous race. One month later, McColgan attempted an ambitious 3000/10000m double at the European Championships in Stuttgart. Liz was 12th in the 3000m (9:02.42 and 8:58.85 in the heats) and 7th in the 10000m (31:49.46), where she was lapped by eventual champion Ingrid Kristiansen but this was only a tiny footnote in a prolific career.

Six months later, McColgan won a silver medal at the World Cross Country Championships in Warsaw, in one of the greatest fields ever assembled for a cross-country race. McColgan succumbed to defeat to the hands of Annette Sergent but gained the satisfaction of defeating Kristiansen into the bronze medal position, as well as finishing ahead of luminaries including her nemesis on the track, Olga Bondarenko.

McColgan had a good Grand Prix campaign but at the World Championships, McColgan finished just outside the medals. Liz allowed Kristiansen to make an early break and could not bridge the lead of the Norwegian and acted as a pacemaker for the second group. Heartbreakingly for Liz, she was outsprinted on the last lap by the Soviet Olga Zhupieva and East Germany’s Katrin Ullrich.

McColgan improved her British and Commonwealth record to 31:06.99 at the Bislett Games in July 1988 and at the Olympic Games, Liz won a hard fought silver medal in Seoul. In a dramatic race, Kristiansen dropped out at 3km with a foot injury when she was in the lead and a similar scenario unravelled, as McColgan led the chasing group comprised of Bondarenko and Zhupieva, before catching Ullrich after 5km. McColgan continued to lead and successfully dropped Ullrich and Zhupieva but Liz could not shake off the persistent figure of the tiny Bondarenko. The Soviet attacked with 200m remaining and McColgan had to settle for a silver medal behind the diminutive Russian, whose gutsy break proved to be decisive.

In 1989, McColgan won silver at the World Indoor Championships behind Elly van Hulst, before setting a 10km world record of 30:38 in Orlando just one week later.

In 1990, McColgan defended her Commonwealth 10000m title, as well as taking 3000m bronze, but soon after this triumph, Liz chose to abandon the rest of the year to start a family but returned with a vengeance in the 1991 campaign. Just weeks after giving birth, McColgan won bronze at the World Cross Country Championships in Antwerp and broke the 31-minute barrier for the first time over 10000m in June, running 30:57.07 in Hengelo, as well as setting a 3000m PB in Nice. McColgan started as the pre-race favourite for the World Championships in Tokyo and Liz had prepared meticulously by training in humid conditions in Florida. After running the heats in flats, McColgan made her intentions clear in the final by leading from the gun, churning out consecutive laps of 74/75-seconds, which dropped everyone by 7km expect for Ethiopia’s Derartu Tulu but soon after, Tulu was broken and McColgan was in the clear at 8km. McColgan crossed the line for the gold medal, setting a winning time of 31:14.31, defeating China’s Zhong Huandi by more than 100m.

Two months later, Liz won her debut marathon in New York, setting the world’s fastest debut of 2:27:32.

However, McColgan could not reproduce the same form in 1992. A cold affected her chances at the World Cross Cou