Who is Colin Jackson and how old is he?
COLIN Jackson has gone down in history as one of Britain's finest athletics stars, who has since gone on to carve out a career as a sports presenter.
The Welshman dazzled on Dancing on Ice in early 2021, and now is stripping off for ITV's Strictly The Full Monty.
Who is Colin Jackson?
Born on February 18, 1967, the now 54-year-old Cardiff boy quickly singled himself out as a keen sportsman.
It wasn't until he met athletics coach Malcolm Arnold that his potential as a competitive athletics champ began to spike.
He won gold at the 1986 World Junior Championships in the high hurdles.
Three years later he bagged silver at the 1986 Commonwealth Games.
He quickly established himself as a dominant force in the field for Great Britain and went on to represent the country at the 1986 Olympics in Seoul, where he bagged a silver.
He won two World Championship golds in 1993 and 1999 and his total medal includes: 12 Gold medals, eight silver, and one bronze.
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What has he done since retiring?
Colin retired from sport in 2003, bowing out at the World Indoor Championships.
He subsequently went on to coach his friend Mark Foster until his retirement in 2006.
At the same time, he moved into TV and worked as a commentator and pundit for the BBC at the 2004 Olympics in Athens.
In 2005 he took part in Strictly Come Dancing, and came in second place.
He narrowly missed out on the top spot after losing out to Darren Gough.
He returned to the ballroom in 2006 for the show's Christmas Special - and won.
He also appeared on the 2017 Xmas show.
He has also appeared on the likes of Who Do You Think You Are? and Celebrity MasterChef.
In 2018, Colin agreed to be part of Channel 4's Star Boot Sale which sees celebrities ship their unwanted stuff.
Then in February 2021 he was finalist on Dancing On Ice.
In December 2021 he agreed to strip off for charity in Strictly The Real Full Monty.
When did Colin come out as gay?
The former sportsman had always refused to talk about his sexuality in public, instead maintaining a private stance on the subject.
However, in 2017 he opened up about coming out to his parents as gay in an interview for a Swedish TV programme, Rainbow Heroes.
He recalled the story of how he came out to his parents 11 years ago after an ex-partner sold a story about him.
Colin explained: "I was waiting for them in the kitchen. They walked in and they sat down.
"My mother could see my face was quite distraught. It didn't phase them at all.
"I said 'it's in the paper about me and this bloke.' It didn't phase them at all.
"My mum went first of all 'is the story true?'
"And I said 'it's true, so it's not like I can deny it.' And then she went 'well, why are people so disgraceful?'
"I just realised, I've got the best parents."
He was convinced to open up by alongside former athletes Kajsa Bergqvist and long jumper Peter Haggstrom.