Ronald Jones (19 August 1934 – 30 December 2021) was a British
track and field
Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...
athlete.
Career
Jones represented
Great Britain
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...
at two consecutive
Summer Olympics, starting with the
1964
Events January
* January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved.
* January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarc ...
Tokyo Games. He was Britain's team captain in the 1968 Mexico Games. He combined with Peter Radford, David Jones and Berwyn Jones to equal the world 4 x 110 yds world record in 1963 with 40.0 secs. Ron held the Welsh 100m record for 27 years until it was beaten by future world 110m hurdles record holder
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 ...
with 10.29 in 1990.
After his illustrious athletics career he became either the CEO or MD of three major football clubs in the English leagues. He was also a member of both the Welsh Athletics Hall of Fame and the Welsh Sports Hall of Fame.
Bronze medal winner, Belgrade and Perth
He won the
bronze medal in the men's 4x100 metres relay at the 1962 European Championships in
Belgrade,
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...
, alongside
Alf Meakin,
Berwyn Jones, and
David Jones. He also won a bronze medal with David England, Nick Whitehead and Berwyn Jones in the 4 x 110 yards relay while competing for Wales at the
1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Perth, Australia.
Personal life and death
Jones was born on 19 August 1934 in
Aberdare,
Rhondda Cynon Taf
Rhondda Cynon Taf (; RCT; also spelt as Rhondda Cynon Taff) is a county borough in the south-east of Wales. It consists of five valleys: the Rhondda Fawr, Rhondda Fach, Cynon, Taff (Welsh: ''Taf'') and Ely valleys, plus a number of towns and vill ...
. He died in
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...
on 30 December 2021, at the age of 87.
Ron Jones
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References
Sources
British Olympic Committee
1934 births
2021 deaths
Athletes (track and field) at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games
Athletes (track and field) at the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games
Athletes (track and field) at the 1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games
Athletes (track and field) at the 1964 Summer Olympics
Athletes (track and field) at the 1968 Summer Olympics
Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for Wales
Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics
European Athletics Championships medalists
Olympic athletes for Great Britain
Sportspeople from Aberdare
Welsh male sprinters
Medallists at the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games
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