Jack Green (born 6 October 1991) is a British sprint athlete who specialises in the 400m distance, along with the hurdles and the 4 × 400 m relay. He competed for the Great Britain team at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London and at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

Career

Since late 2010, Jack Green has trained with

Malcolm Arnold Sir Malcolm Henry Arnold (21 October 1921 – 23 September 2006) was an English composer. His works feature music in many genres, including a cycle of nine symphonies, numerous concertos, concert works, chamber music, choral music and music ...

at the

University of Bath (Virgil, Georgics II) , mottoeng = Learn the culture proper to each after its kind , established = 1886 (Merchant Venturers Technical College) 1960 (Bristol College of Science and Technology) 1966 (Bath University of Technology) 1971 (univ ...

alongside fellow hurdler Dai Greene. At the 2011 World Championships, he finished fifth in his semi-final, a performance he described as "embarrassing, a waste of my time and the team's money", despite finishing where expected. He also won a gold medal at the 2011 European U23 Championships in the 400m hurdles. Following his experience at the previous year's World Championships, Green skipped the European Championships in 2012 to concentrate on the Olympics. In May 2012, he won both the 400m and the 400m hurdles at the BUCS Championships which were held at the

Olympic Stadium ''Olympic Stadium'' is the name usually given to the main stadium of an Olympic Games. An Olympic stadium is the site of the opening and closing ceremonies. Many, though not all, of these venues actually contain the words ''Olympic Stadium'' as ...

in London. During 2012, he trialled a new technique which involved taking fewer strides. He first tested the technique at the

Bislett Games The Bislett Games is an annual track and field meeting at the Bislett Stadium in Oslo, Norway. Previously one of the IAAF Golden League events, it is now part of the Diamond League. History The first international athletics meeting at Bisl ...

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population ...

, finishing in sixth place after hitting seven out of ten of the hurdles on the course. After the Bislett Games, he spoke to former hurdler

Kriss Akabusi Kezie Uchechukwu Duru Akabusi , MBE (born 28 November 1958), known as Kriss Akabusi, is a British former sprint and hurdling track and field athlete. His first international successes were with the British 4×400 metres relay team, winning a ...

who gave him advice as he suffered from similar issues during his career. Green placed second in the 400m hurdles at the British Olympic Trials, behind his training partner and World Champion, Dai Greene. At the start of July 2012, Green was named to the athletics squad for the 2012 Summer Olympics, to compete in the 400 metres hurdles and 4x400 relay. Two weeks prior to the games, he ran at a meet at

Crystal Palace National Sports Centre The National Sports Centre at Crystal Palace in south London, England is a large sports centre and outdoor athletics stadium. It was opened in 1964 in Crystal Palace Park, close to the site of the former Crystal Palace Exhibition building which ...

, setting a new personal best in both the 400m and the 400m hurdles, at 45.99 seconds and 48.60 seconds. The media coverage of the event noted the fact that Green had written "CHIN DOWN, FLAT BACK" in capital letters on the inside of his left forearm prior to the 400 metre race. In the 2012 Olympics, Jack Green was eliminated in the semi-finals of the

400 m hurdles The 400 metres hurdles is a track and field hurdling event. The event has been on the Olympic athletics programme since 1900 for men and since 1984 for women. On a standard outdoor track, 400 metres is the length of the inside lane, once a ...

, hitting a hurdle and falling. He performed well in the

4 × 400 metres relay The 4 × 400 metres relay or long relay is an athletics track event in which teams consist of four runners who each complete 400 metres or one lap. It is traditionally the final event of a track meet. At top class events, th ...

, running 44.42s, as Great Britain finished fourth, just 0.13 seconds outside of a medal. Having suffered from depression throughout 2012, Green announced in 2013 that, despite a full recovery, he was taking a break from the sport to allow his health to improve further, and leaving the

British Athletics UK Athletics (UKA) is the governing body for the sport of athletics (sport), athletics in the United Kingdom. It is responsible for overseeing the governance of athletics events in the UK as well as athletes, their development, and athletics o ...

high-performance funding programme to do so. In August 2014, Green announced his intention to return to the track for the 2015 season and returned to full-time training in Florida. He had to miss the 2015 World Championships due to sciatica, but raced at the 2017 World Championships, where as well as the 400 m hurdles, he ran in the heat of the 4 x 400 m relay. In 2018, he finished 4th at the

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 ...

. Green retired from athletics in November 2019.Jack Green: Ex-Olympian admits embracing vulnerability saved his life in battle with depression

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...

. 19 May 2020. Retrieved 4 May 2021. Since then has worked as head of wellbeing at

BBC Studios BBC Studios is a British content company. It is a commercial subsidiary of the BBC that was formed in April 2018 through the merger of the BBC's commercial production arm and the BBC's commercial international distribution arm, BBC Worldwide. ...

and founded his own wellbeing consultancy, Olywel; in April 2021 he became head of performance of the workplace wellbeing platform Champion Health.

Personal life

Green attended the

, where he studied Sports Performance. He had previously attended Brockhill Park Performing Arts College.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Green, Jack Living people 1991 births Sportspeople from Maidstone British male sprinters British male hurdlers English male sprinters English male hurdlers Olympic male sprinters Olympic male hurdlers Olympic athletes of Great Britain Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2018 Commonwealth Games World Athletics Championships athletes for Great Britain World Athletics Championships medalists European Athletics Championships medalists British Athletics Championships winners Alumni of the University of Bath Team Bath track and field athletes Commonwealth Games competitors for England