Michellie Yvonne Jones ( ; born 6 September 1969) is an Australian

triathlete A triathlon is an endurance multisport race consisting of swimming, cycling, and running over various distances. Triathletes compete for fastest overall completion time, racing each segment sequentially with the time transitioning between the d ...

. She has won two

ITU Triathlon World Championships The World Triathlon Championship Series is World Triathlon's annual series of triathlon events used to crown an annual world champion since 2008. There are multiple rounds of competitions culminating in a Grand Final race. Athletes compete head- ...

, an Olympic silver medal, and the 2006

Ironman World Championship The Ironman World Championship has been held annually in Hawaii since 1978, with an additional race in 1982. It is owned and organized by the World Triathlon Corporation. It is the annual culmination of a series of Ironman triathlon qualification ...

. She won a gold medal at the

2016 Summer Paralympics ) , nations = 159 , athletes = 4,342 , opening = 7 September , closing = 18 September , opened_by = President Michel Temer , cauldron = Clodoaldo Silva , events = 528 in 22 sports , stadium = Maracanã , sum ...

as a guide for Katie Kelly, when paratriathlon made its debut at the Paralympics.

Personal life

Jones currently lives in

Carlsbad, California Carlsbad is a coastal city in the North County region of San Diego County, California, United States. The city is south of downtown Los Angeles and north of downtown San Diego. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 114,746. ...

. She is a graduate from the

University of Wollongong The University of Wollongong (abbreviated as UOW) is an Australian public research university located in the coastal city of Wollongong, New South Wales, approximately 80 kilometres south of Sydney. As of 2017, the university had an enrolment of ...

with a Diploma of Teaching in Primary Education in 1990. She has a twin sister, Gabrielle Jones.

Athletic career

Jones started competing in triathlons in 1990. In 1992 and 1993 she won the ITU Triathlon World Championships. In 1996, she won the inaugural

XTERRA Triathlon XTERRA is a series of cross triathlon races, i.e. three-sport races which include swimming, mountain biking, and trail running. The XTERRA Global Tour is owned and produced by XTERRA Sports Limited. The XTERRA race series is the best-known series ...

World Championships. Jones would go on to further expand her triathlon résumé by winning the

ITU Triathlon World Cup The World Triathlon Cup is an annual series of triathlon races staged around the world. The series is organised by the World Triathlon, the world governing body of the sport. Inaugurated in 1991, the World Cup began as an attempt to create a regular ...

in 1998 and 1999. At 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 ...

Jones took the silver medal in the inaugural triathlon event with a total time of 2:00:42.55, only two seconds behind gold medalist

Brigitte McMahon Brigitte McMahon-Huber (born 25 March 1967 in Baar) is an athlete from Switzerland, who competed in triathlon. McMahon competed at the first Olympic triathlon at the 2000 Summer Olympics. She won the gold medal with a total time of 2:00:40. ...

. Her split times were 19:43.88 for the swim, 1:05:32.90 for the cycling and 0:35:25.77 for the run. After recently expanding into Iron distance competition, Jones took second place in the 2005 Ironman World Championship, losing the lead during the run to

Natascha Badmann Natascha Badmann (born 6 December 1966) is a professional triathlete from Switzerland. She is a 6-time winner of the Ironman World Championships in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii in 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, and 2005 ; in 1998 she became the first Euro ...

. This was only the second time that she competed in an iron distance triathlon. Later she won the 2006 Ironman Arizona Triathlon, finishing with a time of 9:12:53, and the

Ironman Triathlon An Ironman Triathlon is one of a series of long-distance triathlon races organized by the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC), consisting of a swim, a bicycle ride and a marathon run completed in that order, a total of . It is widely consider ...

Kailua-Kona Kailua-Kona is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Hawaii County, Hawaii, United States. It is also known as Kailua (a name it shares with a community located on the windward side of Oahu), as Kona (a name it shares ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

in 9:18:31. With this victory, Jones became the first Australian woman to win a World Ironman Championship and it made her the second Australian in history to win the event, behind 1994 Men's World Champion,

Greg Welch Gregory John Welch (born in 1964 in Campsie, Sydney), known as Greg Welch, is an Australian triathlete. He is known for having won "The Grand Slam", which includes the ITU Triathlon World Championships (1990), The Ironman ...

. In May 2015, it was confirmed that Jones would be Australian paratriathlete Katie Kelly's new guide in the lead up to the

. With Jones, she won the World Paratriathlon Event held in

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of To ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

on 16 May 2015. Kelly with guide Jones won their first World Championship title after a come-from-behind victory at the 2015 World Championships Final in Chicago. At the

2016 Rio Paralympics ) , nations = 159 , athletes = 4,342 , opening = 7 September , closing = 18 September , opened_by = President Michel Temer , cauldron = Clodoaldo Silva , events = 528 in 22 sports , stadium = Maracanã , sum ...

, Jones was the guide for Kelly when they won the gold medal in the Women's PT5 event. Jones reflects on her medal win with Kelly stating: "This is so much better because when I think of everything KK ( Katie Kelly) has been through and to be able of doing everything she’s done in such short amount of time,” she said. “To me this is the best thing that I’ve ever done.” Jones expresses further explaining "Disability doesn't define you, it's what you do with it that does" She was made a

Member of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

in 2017.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Michellie Ironman world champions 1969 births Living people Australian female triathletes Olympic triathletes of Australia Olympic silver medalists for Australia Triathletes at the 2000 Summer Olympics Triathletes at the 2002 Commonwealth Games Paratriathletes at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Paralympic gold medalists for Australia Medalists at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Commonwealth Games competitors for Australia Olympic medalists in triathlon Sportswomen from New South Wales Sportspeople from Carlsbad, California University of Wollongong alumni Sportspeople from Sydney Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Members of the Order of Australia Paralympic medalists in paratriathlon Sport Australia Hall of Fame inductees 21st-century Australian women