Reuben (Ben) Jones (born 19 October 1932 in Newport,

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to th ...

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 ...

; died 3 January 1990 in

Melton Mowbray Melton Mowbray () is a town in Leicestershire, England, north-east of Leicester, and south-east of Nottingham. It lies on the River Eye, known below Melton as the Wreake. The town had a population 27,670 in 2019. The town is sometimes promo ...

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...

) was an

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

equestrian The word equestrian is a reference to equestrianism, or horseback riding, derived from Latin ' and ', "horse". Horseback riding (or Riding in British English) Examples of this are: *Equestrian sports *Equestrian order, one of the upper classes in ...

rider who competed in the

1964 Summer Olympics The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 ( ja, 東京1964), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this ho ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

and the

1968 Summer Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1968), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XIX Olimpiada) and commonly known as Mexico 1968 ( es, México 1968), were an international multi-sport eve ...

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

.Ben Jones
Sports Reference.com; Retrieved 29 October 2010

Equestrian career

Jones was part of the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

team that travelled to Tokyo in 1964 to compete in team eventing.

Eventing Eventing (also known as three day eventing or horse trials) is an equestrian event where a single horse and rider combine and compete against other competitors across the three disciplines of dressage, cross-country, and show jumping. Thi ...

is an

event which comprises

dressage Dressage ( or ; a French term, most commonly translated to mean "training") is a form of horse riding performed in exhibition and competition, as well as an art sometimes pursued solely for the sake of mastery. As an equestrian sport defined b ...

cross-country Cross country or cross-country may refer to: Places * Cross Country, Baltimore, a neighborhood in northwest Baltimore, Maryland * Cross County Parkway, an east–west parkway in Westchester County, NY * Cross County Shopping Center, a mall in Yo ...

and

show jumping Show jumping is a part of a group of English riding equestrianism, equestrian events that also includes dressage, eventing, Show hunter, hunters, and equitation. Jumping classes are commonly seen at horse shows throughout the world, including th ...

. Other team members were Michael Bullen,

Richard Meade Richard John Hannay Meade (4 December 1938 – 8 January 2015) was Britain's most successful male equestrian at the Olympics. He was a triple Olympic gold medalist and the first British rider to win an individual Olympic title. He also won ...

, and James Templar. The team was eliminated out of medal contention. Jones finished ninth on an individual basis riding a horse called The Poacher. He was the first

non-commissioned officer A non-commissioned officer (NCO) is a military officer who has not pursued a commission. Non-commissioned officers usually earn their position of authority by promotion through the enlisted ranks. (Non-officers, which includes most or all enli ...

to compete for Great Britain in the equestrian portion of the Olympic Games. Jones and the team from

Great Britain at the 1968 Summer Olympics Great Britain, represented by the British Olympic Association (BOA), competed at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, Mexico. 225 competitors, 175 men and 50 women, took part in 133 events in 16 sports. British athletes have competed in ever ...

won the gold medal in the team eventing equestrian event. Teammates for the 1968 win were

Derek Allhusen Major Derek Swithin Allhusen, CVO (9 January 1914 – 24 April 2000) was an English equestrian who was a 54-year-old grandfather when he rode Lochinvar to team gold and individual silver medals at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico. Derek S ...

Jane Bullen Jane Mary Elizabeth Holderness-Roddam (née Bullen; born 1 July 1948, Charmouth, Dorset) is a British event rider, winning Badminton Horse Trials in 1968 (on Our Nobby) and 1978 (on Warrior). She also won Burghley Horse Trials in 1976 ...

, and Richard Meade.Great Britain Equestrianism at the 1968 Ciudad de Mexico Summer Games
Sports Reference.com; Retrieved 29 October 2010 Jones finished fifth on an individual basis that year. Jones also won gold medals in 1967 and 1969 at the

European Championships The European Championships is a multi-sport tournament which brings together the existing European Championships of some of the continent's leading sports every four years. The inaugural edition in 2018 was staged by the host cities of Berlin, ...

as part of the British team.

Military career

Jones was an accomplished horseman; as a young man his ambition was to become a jockey, but he was too tall. He chose to join the army as a way to work with horses. Jones was a sergeant of the

King's Troop, Royal Horse Artillery The King's Troop, Royal Horse Artillery, is a ceremonial unit of the British Army, quartered at Woolwich. It is a mounted unit and all of its soldiers are trained to care for and drive teams of six horses, each team pulling a First World War-er ...

, in charge of

equitation Equitation is the art or practice of horse riding or horsemanship. More specifically, equitation may refer to a rider's position while mounted, and encompasses a rider's ability to ride correctly and with effective aids. In horse show competitio ...

. In 1968, he was posted to the

Royal Army Veterinary Corps The Royal Army Veterinary Corps (RAVC), known as the Army Veterinary Corps (AVC) until it gained the royal prefix on 27 November 1918, is an administrative and operational branch of the British Army responsible for the provision, training and ca ...

; after his commission he was transferred to the

General Service Corps The General Service Corps (GSC) is a corps of the British Army. Role The role of the corps is to provide specialists, who are usually on the Special List or General List. These lists were used in both World Wars for specialists and those not allo ...

. There he was in charge of training at the RAVC remount depot. After retirement, he died in 1990 aged 57 while training a young horse. In Newport there is a residential street named "Ben Jones Avenue" after him.

References

English Olympic medallists Olympic gold medallists for Great Britain British event riders Olympic equestrians of Great Britain British male equestrians Equestrians at the 1968 Summer Olympics Newport, Shropshire Equestrians at the 1964 Summer Olympics British show jumping riders People from Newport, Shropshire Royal Artillery soldiers 1990 deaths 1932 births Olympic medalists in equestrian Medalists at the 1968 Summer Olympics {{UK-Olympic-medalist-stub