Iona Wynter-Parks (born November 25, 1968, in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

), née Wynter is a former triathlete and cyclist from

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

. Wynter-Parks was born to a Jamaican father and a German mother, and moved to Jamaica aged two. Wynter was educated at

Campion College, Jamaica Campion College is a public Catholic secondary school, located in Kingston, Jamaica. The co-educational school was founded by the Society of Jesus in 1960. The school is one of the top three choices for PEP exams and is widely considered to b ...

, the

University of the West Indies The University of the West Indies (UWI), originally University College of the West Indies, is a public university system established to serve the higher education needs of the residents of 17 English-speaking countries and territories in th ...

Dalhousie University Dalhousie University (commonly known as Dal) is a large public research university in Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the fou ...

Georgia State University Georgia State University (Georgia State, State, or GSU) is a Public university, public research university in Atlanta, Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1913, it is one of the University System of Georgia's four research universities. It is also the ...

and

Laval University Laval means ''The Valley'' in old French and is the name of: People * House of Laval, a French noble family originating from the town of Laval, Mayenne * Laval (surname) Places Belgium * Laval, a village in the municipality of Sainte-Ode, Luxemb ...

, where she combined studies with triathlon training and employment, including modelling swimwear for

Louis Garneau Louis Garneau (born August 9, 1958 in Sainte-Foy, Quebec, Canada) is a retired competitive cyclist, artist, and businessman of French-Canadian descent. In 1978, Garneau was the Canadian champion in individual pursuit cycling. In 1983, he fo ...

. Subsequently she secured funding from compatriot

Chris Blackwell Christopher Percy Gordon Blackwell (born 22 June 1937) is an English businessman and former record producer, and the founder of Island Records, which has been called "one of Britain's great independent labels". According to the Rock and Roll ...

, founder of

Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in 1959 by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in Jamaica, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, anoth ...

. Wynter finished 13th in the

triathlon at the 1999 Pan American Games This page shows the results of the triathlon competition at the 1999 Pan American Games in Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red ...

, qualifying her for the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

. She took thirty-fourth place with a total time of 2:10:24.69. Wynter subsequently shifted her focus to cycling. She won a gold medal in the cycling road race at the 2002 Central American and Caribbean Games. She rode on a professional U.S. cycling team sponsored by Italian olive oil company Colavita and headed by celebrated American cyclist

Tina Pic Tina Mayolo Pic (born May 9, 1966) is an American bicycle racer. She is a 6-time United States National Criterium Championships winner (2002–2005, 2007, 2009) and a 4-time USA Cycling National Racing Calendar points champion (2000, 2004–2006) ...

. She also served as director of the Colavita team for the 2009 season. After the original Colavita team was dissolved in October 2011, she became a director of the new Colavita-espnW team established in 2012, alongside her former team-mate Pic. She was a member of the Autotrader.com team and then rode for Genesis-Scuba before entering into semi-retirement in order to balance her teaching career. She rode the 2005 season for Travel Girls and as a guest rider for the Quark Cycling Team. She won the Central American and Caribbean Road Race Championships in 2002 and in 2006 became the Scratch Race Champion in the same Games. She has competed in the Pan American Games and the Commonwealth Games on the road and the track. She also competed in the

Giro d'Italia Femminile The is an annual elite women's road bicycle racing stage race. It was rebranded from 2013-2020 as the Giro Rosa, having been branded the Giro Donne until 2012 and again in 2021. It has been considered the most prestigious stage race in women's roa ...

. She hoped to compete in the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

Beijing, China } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

, but failed to qualify. Only a very few athletes have qualified for the Olympic Games in two sports. Wynter-Parks serves as first vice-president of the Jamaican Cycling Federation. She has also been the director of FieldSpa, a spa based at the

Goldeneye Hotel and Resort Goldeneye is the original name of novelist Ian Fleming's estate on Oracabessa bay on the northern coastline of Jamaica. He bought adjacent to the Golden Clouds estate in 1946 and built his home on the edge of a cliff overlooking a private beach. ...

developed on the former estate of

Ian Fleming Ian Lancaster Fleming (28 May 1908 – 12 August 1964) was a British writer who is best known for his postwar ''James Bond'' series of spy novels. Fleming came from a wealthy family connected to the merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co., a ...

References

* 1968 births Living people Athletes from London Jamaican female triathletes Jamaican female cyclists Triathletes at the 1999 Pan American Games Pan American Games competitors for Jamaica Triathletes at the 2000 Summer Olympics Olympic triathletes for Jamaica Cyclists at the 2006 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games competitors for Jamaica Jamaican people of German descent Central American and Caribbean Games gold medalists for Jamaica Competitors at the 2002 Central American and Caribbean Games Competitors at the 2006 Central American and Caribbean Games Central American and Caribbean Games medalists in cycling People educated at Campion College {{triathlon-bio-stub