Jonathan ("Jon") Peter Ridgeon (born 14 February 1967) is an English former
athlete who competed mainly in the
110 metres hurdles
The 110 metres hurdles, or 110-metre hurdles, is a hurdling track and field event for men. It is included in the athletics programme at the Summer Olympic Games. The female counterpart is the 100 metres hurdles. As part of a racing event, ten hu ...
and the
400 metres hurdles
The 400 metres hurdles is a track and field hurdling event. The event has been on the Olympic athletics programme since 1900 for men and since 1984 for women.
On a standard outdoor track, 400 metres is the length of the inside lane, once ...
. In the 110m hurdles, he won the silver medal at the
1987 World Championships and the gold medal at the
1987 Universiade. He represented Great Britain at the
1988 Seoul Olympics
The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...
and the
1996 Atlanta Olympics.
Biography
Ridgeon was born in
Bury St Edmunds,
Suffolk.
He won the 110 m hurdles at the European Junior Championship in 1985, ahead of his fellow British athlete
Colin Jackson
Colin Ray Jackson, (born 18 February 1967) is a Welsh former sprint and hurdling athlete who specialised in the 110 metres hurdles. During a career in which he represented Great Britain and Wales, he won an Olympic silver medal, became wo ...
, who finished runner-up. Ridgeon then finished second to Jackson at the
1986 World Junior Championships. He represented
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 the 110 metres hurdles event, at the
1986 Commonwealth Games in
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...
,
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...
.
Ridgeon won the 110 m hurdles gold medal at the
1987 Universiade (World University Games) in
Zagreb
Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital and largest city of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb stands near the international border between Croatia and Slov ...
.
At the 1987 World Championships in
Rome
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, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
, Ridgeon won a silver medal in the 110 m hurdles (with Jackson taking the bronze medal). Ridgeon then finished in fifth place at the
1988 Olympic Games in
Seoul
Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 of ...
(where Jackson came second). However Ridgeon and Jackson's rivalry was comparatively short-lived, as Ridgeon began to develop injuries that led to him missing out on most major events in the following years.
When Ridgeon returned to regular competition, he switched to the
400 metres hurdles
The 400 metres hurdles is a track and field hurdling event. The event has been on the Olympic athletics programme since 1900 for men and since 1984 for women.
On a standard outdoor track, 400 metres is the length of the inside lane, once ...
, before his retiring from the sport.
Ridgeon was educated at
Magdalene College, Cambridge. In 1998 he became a founding and managing partner of Fast Track, a sports marketing agency (the agency was sold in 2007
). As well as working with Fast Track, Ridgeon has also been a TV commentator for the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
since retiring as an athlete.
In 2018, Ridgeon was appointed chief executive officer of the
(IAAF).
* 110m H - 13.29 (Zagreb, Croatia, 15 Jul 1987)
* 400m H - 48.73 (Rieti, Italy, 6 Sep 1992)