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Running like my life depended on it at the Tate
Marlon, Olympic gold medallist
This morning I was at Tate Britain for a very different sprint than I'm usually used to. I was with other Olympians and athletes to be part of Martin Creed's Work No. 850, running down the gallery to launch the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad and Open Weeke

Before we ran I was quite apprehensive about it - mainly we were sprinting straight toward a wall. We were briefed by the artist beforehand so we knew what it was about - he told us we had to run like our life depended on it.

Warming up:


With Kelly Holmes and Iwan Thomas:

Marlon warm up5


Seb stretching:

Marlon warm up_Kelly_Ewan


We ran in 30 second intervals, creating a natural, constant flow, and I really enjoyed it - though you did have to brake really hard at the end. It's a unique thing to be able to do and it was great to be part of quite a modern work of art, running alongside rooms with fabulous, more traditional art.

Seb Coe stretching

marlon setting off

marlon running blur

marlon running down gallery

marlon running1


It felt really good. I really support Martin's idea and I'm an artist myself - after sport, art's my second passion, so being part of it this morning worked for me really well. I haven't done much sport or athletics-oriented artwork so far, but I'm looking to do more now. Finding time is hard, both art and sport take quite alot of time, and I'm still competing. But maybe one day I'll get my work at the Tate...

marlon running end of gallery2


25
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