Olympic medallist Liz McColgan charged with assault on husband - The Guardian

The Olympic medal winning athlete Liz McColgan is to stand trial charged with battering her estranged husband during a domestic dispute at their home in Carnoustie, Scotland.

McColgan, who won an Olympic silver medal at the Seoul games in 1988, appeared in court on Thursday and pleaded not guilty to several charges of striking Peter McColgan around the head and body on 12 July, and throwing his clothes down some stairs and out of a window.

The long-distance runner, who won 10,000-metre gold at the 1986 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, left Arbroath's sheriff court in tears on Thursday.

McColgan, 47, and her husband share a home in Angus, Scotland, with their five children. They completed an amicable separation last year and run a health centre from the house.

McColgan is also accused of behaving in a threatening and abusive manner likely to cause a reasonable person to suffer fear and alarm.

At court her defence lawyer, Gary McIlravey, said she was pleading not guilty and successfully asked for her to be released on bail. She is due to stand trial in November.

McColgan, who was formally known as Liz Lynch, won gold for the 10,000-metre road race at the Tokyo world championships in 1991. She was also a two-time gold medallist at the Commonwealth Games and won marathons in the UK, Japan and the US. She was voted BBC TV sports personality of the year in 1991.