Jenny Jones (born 3 July 1980) is a British professional

snowboarder Snowboarding is a recreational and competitive activity that involves descending a snow-covered surface while standing on a snowboard that is almost always attached to a rider's feet. It features in the Winter Olympic Games and Winter Paralympic ...

who became the first Briton to win an Olympic medal in a snow event after winning bronze in

slopestyle Slopestyle is a winter sport in which athletes ski or snowboard down a course including a variety of obstacles including rails, jumps and other terrain park features. Points are scored for amplitude, originality and quality of tricks. The disci ...

at the

2014 Winter Olympics , ''Zharkie. Zimnie. Tvoi'') , nations = 88 , events = 98 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , athletes = 2,873 , opening = 7 February 2014 , closing = 23 February 2014 , opened_by = President Vladimir Putin , cauldron = , stadium = Fisht Olympic ...

Sochi Sochi ( rus, Со́чи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg) is the largest resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi River, along the Black Sea in Southern Russia, with a population of 466,078 residents, up to 600,000 residents in ...

Early life

Jones was born in Downend,

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

. She attended

The Ridings High School The Winterbourne Academy, is a co-educational school in South Gloucestershire. The school is in the village of Winterbourne in South Gloucestershire, on the outskirts of Bristol, England. History The Ridings High School was founded in 1957. It ...

, a large secondary school located in the village of Winterbourne in

South Gloucestershire South Gloucestershire is a unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of Gloucestershire, South West England. Towns in the area include Yate, Chipping Sodbury, Thornbury, Filton, Patchway and Bradley Stoke, the latter three forming part ...

. Having competed in

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competi ...

(400m, long jump, cross country) and

gymnastics Gymnastics is a type of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, dedication and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, shou ...

at school, at age 17 she learnt to ski on the

dry ski slope A dry ski slope or artificial ski slope is a ski slope that mimics the attributes of snow using materials that are stable at room temperature, to enable people to skiing, ski, snowboarding, snowboard or Tubing (recreation)#Snow, snow tube in pla ...

Churchill, Somerset Churchill is a village and civil parish in the unitary authority of North Somerset, part of the ceremonial county of Somerset. It is located on the western edge of the Mendip Hills, about east of Weston-super-Mare, and about southwest of Br ...

, after they offered free skiing lessons.

Career

After leaving college Jones spent a season working as a chalet maid in

Tignes Tignes () is a commune in the Tarentaise Valley, in the Savoie department in the Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France, known for the highest skiable area and the longest ski season in Europe. It is located in the Savoie region with good t ...

, France, beginning a cycle of snowboarding in the winter and surfing in the summer in

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

and

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

, which she funded via part-time jobs including inspecting cardboard in a factory and teaching

fencing Fencing is a group of three related combat sports. The three disciplines in modern fencing are the foil, the épée, and the sabre (also ''saber''); winning points are made through the weapon's contact with an opponent. A fourth discipline, s ...

to children. Jones won the

X Games The X Games are an annual extreme sports event organized, produced and broadcast by ESPN. Coverage is also shown on ESPN's sister network, ABC. The inaugural X Games were held during the summer of 1995 in Providence and Newport, Rhode Island, ...

USA Gold in 2009 and 2010, and the X Games Europe Gold in 2010. In August 2013 Jones scored her first podium finish in a round of the FIS Snowboard World Cup, winning a silver in slopestyle in the 2013–14 season opening meeting in New Zealand. On 9 February 2014 she finished third behind Jamie Anderson and Enni Rukajärvi to win a bronze medal in the women's slopestyle event at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. In recognition of her achievements for British Snowsports, the

Ski Club of Great Britain The Ski Club of Great Britain is a recreational snow sports club, which operates on a not-for-profit basis. It was founded on 6 May 1903 during a meeting at the Café Royal in London. Until the 1960s, the Ski Club of Great Britain was responsible f ...

awarded her the Pery Medal in 2014. In October 2014 she started presenting ''Jenny Jones' Extreme'', a monthly radio series for BBC Radio 5 Live showcasing

extreme sports Action sports, adventure sports or extreme sports are activities perceived as involving a high degree of risk. These activities often involve speed, height, a high level of physical exertion and highly specialized gear. Extreme tourism overl ...

. In December 2014 she was announced as one of the coaches for the second series of

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

's celebrity winter sports competition '' The Jump''. As of 2022 she is retired from competition, and presents on BBC

Ski Sunday ''Ski Sunday'' is the BBC Sports weekly magazine-style television show covering winter sports, broadcast in the United Kingdom on Sundays in a late afternoon or an early evening time-slot. It began in 1978, and is currently presented by Ed Leigh ...

while also holding snowboarding workshops. She also covered the

2022 Winter Olympics The 2022 Winter Olympics (2022年冬季奥林匹克运动会), officially called the XXIV Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Beijing 2022 (2022), was an international winter multi-sport event held from 4 to 20 February 2022 in Beij ...

in Beijing for the BBC.

References

External links

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Jenny Jones
at bbc.co.uk {{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Jenny 1980 births Living people English female snowboarders Medalists at the 2014 Winter Olympics Olympic bronze medallists for Great Britain Olympic medalists in snowboarding Olympic snowboarders for Great Britain Snowboarders at the 2014 Winter Olympics Sportspeople from Bristol X Games athletes People from South Gloucestershire District