David Jenkins (sprinter)

David Andrew Jenkins (born 25 May 1952) is a former World ranked no.1 400m track and field sprinter who also ran other sprint distances. He is, statistically, the highest ranking Scottish sprinter in history, above 1980 Olympic 100m champion Allan Wells. He was part of the UK relay team which won a silver medal at the 1972 Munich Summer Olympics. Anabolic steroids were banned from athletics in 1976, and Jenkins has said that he began using steroids around then; although his times slowed from this point due in part to his increased propensity for injury. He was a finalist in the 1976 and 1980 Olympics 400m. He received a 7-year prison sentence in the 1980s for drug smuggling, but was able to serve a reduced period of 10-1/2 months by becoming an informant. Jenkins has subsequently had a business career in the United States. He is the brother of Roger Jenkins, also formerly an international athlete, who became one of the UK's highest paid bankers. Born in Pointe-à-Pierre, Trinidad and Tobago, British West Indies, Jenkins was the son of an oil refinery manager. Jenkins was educated at Edinburgh Academy, where he excelled at sport. From 1970 to 1973 he attended the University of Edinburgh (1970–1973) where, as a British Petroleum industrial apprentice. he received a BSc in chemical engineering. He then went on to study at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, where he received a postgraduate diploma in business management and marketing (1974). In 1976, Jenkins was awarded a Travelling Fellowship from the Winston Churchill Memorial Trusts. His project's title was "Community sport participation and provision", and the fellowship enabled him to visit the United States and West Germany. Jenkins was, for a few years in early 2000s, the U.S. representative for The Edinburgh Academy's Academical Club. Jenkins' first coach was Jake Young, then head of physical education at the Edinburgh Academy. In his youth, Jenkins was the European record holder at 400-metres for under 17 and under 19 years old.