Jack Richard Buckner (born 22 September 1961) is a male retired British athlete.

Athletics career

Buckner was one of the many British athletes of the mid 1980s who dominated track and field. Educated at St. Petroc's preparatory school in Cornwall and

Worksop College Worksop College (formerly St Cuthbert's College) is a British co-educational independent school for both day and boarding pupils aged 13 to 18, in Worksop. It sits at the northern edge of Sherwood Forest, in Nottinghamshire, England. Founded ...

in Nottinghamshire it was clear from a young age that Buckner was highly talented. This was underlined when he clocked 4:16.90 for 5th place at

The English Schools Championships The English Schools' Athletics Championships are annual national athletics competitions organised by the English Schools' Athletic Association ESAA for students in England aged 12–18 for track and field, cross country and race walking. The ev ...

at 1500m as a 15-year-old. Three years later he won the National Junior 1500m title in 3:50.94, after an administrative blunder prevented him from competing in the English Schools' Championships of the same year. After leaving Worksop College, Buckner attended

Loughborough University Loughborough University (abbreviated as ''Lough'' or ''Lboro'' for post-nominals) is a public research university in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. It has been a university since 1966, but it dates back to 1909, when L ...

, where he read geography. He later completed an MBA degree. During his first year at university Buckner won the University Athletic Union (UAU) 800m title in 1:51.30. This title would prove to be his only real success during his university years, apart from setting a UK under 23 2000m record of 5:01.90 in 1983. It was when Buckner left university that he was able to concentrate fully on his running and by 1986 his 1500 m personal best had been reduced to 3:35.38. Although by today's standards this time would rank him very highly, in the 1980s standards were far higher, so much so that he was ranked 2 seconds outside the top three performers of

Sebastian Coe Sebastian Newbold Coe, Baron Coe, (born 29 September 1956), often referred to as Seb Coe, is a British politician and former track and field athlete. As a middle-distance runner, Coe won four Olympic medals, including 1500 metres gold medal ...

Steve Cram Stephen Cram, (born 14 October 1960) is a British retired track and field athlete. Along with fellow Britons Sebastian Coe and Steve Ovett, he was one of the world's dominant middle distance runners during the 1980s. Nicknamed "The Jarrow Arr ...

and

Steve Ovett Stephen Michael James Ovett, (; born 9 October 1955) is a retired British track athlete. A middle-distance runner, he was the gold medalist in the 800 metres at the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow, and set 5 world records for 1500 metres and the ...

respectively. Deciding that the 1500m was a difficult event to crack and due to his relative lack of 800m pace, Buckner decided to try his luck at the longer 5000m event. Representing

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 ...

, the

1986 Commonwealth Games The 1986 Commonwealth Games ( gd, Geamannan a 'Cho-fhlaitheis 1986) were held in Edinburgh, Scotland, between 24 July and 2 August 1986. They were the second Games to be held in Edinburgh. Thirty two of the eligible fifty nine countries (largel ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, was his first major race and he performed brilliantly finishing with a

silver medal A silver medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc ...

in 13:25.87 behind fellow countryman Steve Ovett. Hot on the heels of the Commonwealth Games in 1986 were the

European Athletics Championships The European Athletics Championships is a biennial (from 2010) athletics event organised by the European Athletics Association and is recognised as the elite continental outdoor athletics championships for Europe. Editions First held, for men ...

, which would prove to be a far tougher test. Following a 56-second last lap (see "1986 European Championships 5000m," a YouTube video uploaded by tommytempo1), "the ill fancied Buckner" went on to claim the gold medal in a championship best time of 13:10.15, a record which still stands to this day. Buckner claimed a bronze medal at the

1987 World Championships in Athletics The 2nd World Championships in Athletics under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations were held in the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, Italy between August 28 and September 6, 1987. Men's results Track 1983 , 1987 ...

(13:27.74) and in 1988 he finished a brave 6th in the 5.000 metres in Seoul (13:23.85) after an injury ravaged season. This was how it would end for Buckner and despite making an appearance at the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...

after he came to within half a second of his best time from 1986, he progressed no further than the heats after a fall. This spelled the end of Buckner's short career as a distance athlete. Shortly after his running career ended, Buckner worked for the sports giant

Adidas Adidas AG (; stylized as adidas since 1949) is a German multinational corporation, founded and headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, that designs and manufactures shoes, clothing and accessories. It is the largest sportswear manufactur ...

before he and his family upped sticks and moved to New Zealand to concentrate on apple farming. In his own words this venture was "a disaster" and when they returned he was appointed project director of the athletics board. Jack's younger brother

Tom Buckner Thomas "Tom" Christopher Buckner (born 16 April 1963) is an English former long-distance runner who finished fifth at the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria, British Columbia,Canada, and reached the semifinals in the Barcelona Olympics as well a ...

was also an international distance runner and gained recognition when he finished 5th at the 1994

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...

3000m steeplechase (8:29.84). Both Tom and Jack have run sub 4-minute miles (Tom 3:58.90 at Portsmouth, UK in 1993) and Jack (3:51.57 at Koblenz, Germany in 1984). Tom and Jack Buckner were the first brothers since the 1950s to compete at the Olympics (in the 1992

Barcelona Olympic games The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...

Personal bests

*800 metres – 1:49.80 (1981) *1000 metres – 2:18.88 (1982) UKAT 30th *1500 metres – 3:35.28 (1984) UKAT 19th *One mile – 3:51.57 (1984) UKAT 10th *2000 metres – 4:53.06 (1987) UKAT 3rd *Two miles – 8:17.12 (1986) UKAT 7th *3000 metres – 7:40.43 (1986) UKAT 6th *5000 metres – 13:10.15 (1986) UKAT 4th NB UKAT denotes position on the United Kingdom all-time athletics lists.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Buckner, Jack 1961 births Living people English male middle-distance runners English male steeplechase runners Olympic athletes of Great Britain Athletes (track and field) at the 1988 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1992 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics Athletes (track and field) at the 1986 Commonwealth Games World Athletics Championships athletes for Great Britain World Athletics Championships medalists European Athletics Championships medalists People from Wells, Somerset Alumni of Loughborough University People educated at Worksop College Commonwealth Games silver medallists for England