Steve Jones (athlete)
Steve Jones (Stephen Henry Jones; born 4 August 1955) is a Welsh athlete and former world marathon record holder.
Steve Jones was born in St James' Hospital Tredegar and grew up in the neighbouring town of Ebbw Vale, Wales, Jones began his career as an aircraft technician in the Royal Air Force. He began training for the marathon in 1983 and, up until then, his career had been focused on the 10,000 m.
In 1984, a year after dropping out of his first marathon in Chicago and two months after finishing 8th in the 1984 Olympic 10,000 metres, he won the Chicago Marathon, coming in at 2:08:05 and thus breaking the world record of Australian Robert de Castella by 13 seconds.
He won the London Marathon in spring 1985 in 2:08:16. In October 1985 he achieved his career best marathon time of 2:07:13 in winning the Chicago Marathon, at that time only one second slower than the world record run by Carlos Lopes at the Rotterdam Marathon earlier that same year. This time remains the fastest of any British runner.
In 1986, he won a bronze medal in the 10,000 m at the Commonwealth Games. In the European Championships shortly after, he once again competed in the marathon. Leading from the start and breaking away from the pack, Jones ran a brilliant race up to the 20 mile mark. At that point he was leading by over two minutes and on schedule for another world record. However, he then "hit the wall" and suffered terribly in the final six miles. He slowed to a virtual shuffle, but refused to quit as he watched other competitors catch and pass him. Two years later, in the 1988 New York City Marathon, Jones won by over three minutes with a time of 2:08:20.
He was the first Welsh athlete to appear on the cover of the prestigious running magazine Running Times.
Jones currently lives in Boulder, Colorado in the United States.
Read more about Steve Jones (athlete): Achievements
Famous quotes containing the words steve and/or jones:
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—Theodore Simonson. Irvin S. Yeaworth, Jr.. Steve Andrews (Steven McQueen)
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—Donald Davidson (b. 1917)