“I am an British Olympic hero and underwent cardiac surgery, my greatest fear was not awakening.”

Roger Black has talked about cardiac surgery that underwent in January and the fear he felt before passing under the knife after maintaining a hidden heart condition

Two Silver Olympic Medalist Roger Black He admits that he was afraid not to wake up after undergoing open cardiac surgery in January. Black, which represented Great Britain on the 400m and 4 x 400m relay at the Atlanta and Barcelona games, He underwent a procedure to replace his aortic valve and repair his aortic root.

He was diagnosed with a heart condition at the age of 11, but kept it hidden during his successful athletics career. and until its six -hour surgery in early 2025. The 58 -year -old man said BBC Breakfast, during a feature to raise awareness about heart disease: “It’s a great shock and many people feel so surprising when you talk about that.

“I was very afraid of that, I was very worried about that and my greatest fear was not awakening, so waking up was fantastic to me. If (people) are breathless, or are tired and I’m not sure, they just check it because you never know.

“Valve disease, people like me are born with it, but most people who have this operation are not born with it, the valve simply begins to degenerate as it ages.

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“I feel very lucky that surgeons have entered there and cleansed me. The reality of my situation is that if they had not entered, my aorta could have exploded due to the pressure on the aorta and that is not worth thinking about that.

“I was very lucky because they checked him every year and they gave me the approval.

“The only year I did not go along the way and saw my cardiologist in 1996 before the Atlanta Olympic Games because I had said … I would still have gone!

“He didn’t stop the Olympic Games.”

During his illustrious career, Black won multiple gold medals, including two in 1986 Commonwealth games In Edinburgh. Famous, he also assured a remarkable money in the 400m at the 1996 Atlanta Games, beating Michael Johnson.

As Black continues in the repair after his surgery, Michael Johnson, his unique song adversary, contacted a support message.

Black added: “It was not something that I never kept a secret, but it was certainly not something I talked about and the reason for that simple. I did not want me to define me and did not want it to be an excuse.

“Sport is difficult, win Olympic medals that you don’t want excuses and you need to control what you can control, I didn’t want that excuse.

“I was worried about my father every day. He worried every day because he knew what he had, but he clearly did not affect me.”