Jon Byron Rankin (born 9 February 1982) is an American born retired

Caymanian Caymanians are the status holders or born citizens of the Cayman Islands. As a British Overseas Territory, citizens of the Cayman Islands will hold British Overseas Territories Citizenship. There is no record of a native people to the Cayman I ...

middle and long-distance track and field runner. The highlight of his track and field career was winning the USA Junior Outdoor Track & Field Championships at 1500 metres and the 2007

Emsley Carr Mile The Emsley Carr Mile is an annual invitational athletics running event held in the United Kingdom over one mile for men. The race was won in 2022 by the British athlete Matthew Stonier. History The race was inaugurated in 1953 by Sir William C ...

in England. He is the

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of Go Be More, who design apparel. He is also a

copywriter Copywriting is the act or occupation of writing text for the purpose of advertising or other forms of marketing. The product, called copy or sales copy, is written content that aims to increase brand awareness and ultimately persuade a person or ...

working for various organisations and for himself.

Early life and amateur career

Rankin graduated from Monte Vista High School in Spring Valley, California. He then went on to attend the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

(UCLA) where he studied for a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degree in English language. In 2004 he became UCLA's number one runner for the season and was an All-American. On 9 April 2005, he became then the 17th

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

and 268th American overall to run a sub

four-minute mile A four-minute mile is the completion of a mile run (1609 m) in four minutes or less. It was first achieved in 1954 by Roger Bannister, at age 25, in 3:59.4. As of April 2021, the "four-minute barrier" has been broken by 1,663 athletes, and is n ...

. He graduated from UCLA in 2005.

Professional career

Athletics career

After graduating, he turned professional as a sponsored athlete with

Nike Nike often refers to: * Nike (mythology), a Greek goddess who personifies victory * Nike, Inc., a major American producer of athletic shoes, apparel, and sports equipment Nike may also refer to: People * Nike (name), a surname and feminine given ...

. Rankin trained and raced throughout the US and Europe. On 11 August 2007 he won the

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

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 ...

in a personal best time of 3:54.24, A year later in 2008, at the time of the

United States Olympic Trials The United States Olympic Trials are competitions held in certain sports to select the United States' participants in those sports at the Olympic Games. These events include: * United States Olympic Trials (curling) * United States Olympic Trials (d ...

, he was diagnosed with

focal segmental glomerulosclerosis Focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) is a histopathologic finding of scarring (sclerosis) of glomeruli and damage to renal podocytes.Rosenberg, Avi Z.; Kopp, Jeffrey B. (2017-03-07). "Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis". ''Clinical Journal o ...

(FSGS), although his official diagnosis didn't come about until the end of 2008. FSGS is estimated to occur in 2-3 persons per million, with males and African peoples at higher risk.Tucker JK. Focal segmental glomerulosclerosis in African Americans. Am J Med Sci. 2002 Feb;323(2):90-3. doi: 10.1097/00000441-200202000-00006. .Kitiyakara C, Kopp JB, Eggers P. Trends in the epidemiology of focal segmental glomerulosclerosis. Semin Nephrol. 2003 Mar;23(2):172-82. doi: 10.1053/snep.2003.50025. . Later in 2011, Rankin underwent an experimental stem cell surgery to reverse his disease. Earlier, on 1 October 2009, Rankin decided to switch his allegiance to the Cayman Islands, "Jon is eligible to do this because both of his parents were born in the Cayman Islands," wrote his manager, Merhawi Keflezighi. He retired from professional competitive racing at the end of 2012. In 2015 Rankin was inducted into the National Black Distance Running Hall of Fame by the National Black Marathoners’ Association.

Personal bests

All Information taken from World Athletics profile.

Competitions

Career outside of athletics

Since graduating, outside of athletics, Rankin has been a freelance senior copywriter, and since 2018 he has been the chief executive officer of both Go Be More and Catchy Content Co.

References

External links

Go Be More profile of Jon Rankin
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rankin, Jon 1982 births Living people Track and field athletes from San Diego University of California, Los Angeles alumni Athletes (track and field) at the 2010 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2011 Pan American Games African-American male track and field athletes UCLA Bruins men's track and field athletes American male middle-distance runners American male long-distance runners American male cross country runners American male marathon runners American people of Caymanian descent Caymanian middle-distance runners Caymanian long-distance runners Caymanian male athletes Caymanian marathon runners 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American people