Jonathan Edwards (athlete)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jonathan David Edwards CBE (born May 10, 1966 in London, England) is a former British triple jumper and widely regarded as the finest triple jumper of all time. He is an Olympic champion and has held the world record in the event since 1995. He lives with his wife Alison in Gosforth, Tyneside and also has a flat in London.

[edit] Education

Edwards attended West Buckland School where his potential for the triple jump was spotted at an early age. He was a strong all-rounder and on leaving received the school's top award for sporting and academic excellence, the Fortescue Medal. Contemporaries with Edwards at West Buckland School included Victor Ubogu, Steve Ojomoh (both former Bath and England Rugby international players) and Uyi Omoregie (Nigerian Christian thinker and writer). Edwards then read Physics at Durham University, attending Van Mildert College.

[edit] Athletics career

The decision to compete in the 1993 World Championships proved timely, since the qualifying round at that year's World Championships took place on a Sunday. He went on to win the bronze medal.

In his breakthrough year of 1995, he produced an astonishing jump of 18.43 m at the European Cup. The leap was wind assisted and did not count for record purposes but it was a sign of things to come as he capped an unbeaten year with an historic gold medal performance at the World Championships. On his first jump, he became the first man to legally pass the 18-metre barrier (18.16 m). That record lasted for about 20 minutes. His second jump of 18.29 m made him the first to jump 60 feet. Later the same year Edwards became the BBC Sports Personality of the Year.

During 1996 Edwards went into the Olympic games as favourite and world record holder, but it was American Kenny Harrison who took the gold with a jump of 18.09 m. Edwards walked away with the silver after a leap of 17.88 m (the longest ever jump not to win gold), but some have speculated that one of the jumps he fouled on could have been the longest ever recorded, or at least won him the gold. Edwards won the gold medal at the 2000 Summer Olympic Games, and was awarded the CBE shortly afterwards. He also won golds at the 2001 World Championships and 2002 Commonwealth Games. At one point in 2002, Edwards held all the gold medals for the "four majors" (Olympic Games, World Championships, Commonwealth Games & European Championships). He retired after the 2003 World Championships as Great Britain's most medalled athlete.

[edit] Post-athletics career

Following his retirement, Edwards pursued a media career as a television presenter mainly working for the BBC as a sports commentator and on programmes such as Songs of Praise until he gave up this programme, due to his loss of faith, in February 2007.^[1]

Dr. Jonathan Edwards at the University of Ulster Winter Graduation Ceremony - Tuesday, 19th December, 2006

He is a member of the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games, representing athletes in the organisation of the 2012 Summer Olympics.

[edit] Awards

An honorary doctorate was conferred upon him at a ceremony at the University of Exeter on 21 January, 2006.

Later in the same year, an honorary doctorate of the university (DUniv) was conferred upon him at the winter graduation ceremony of the University of Ulster (19th December, 2006).

[edit] Religious beliefs

He once occasionally preached at Jesmond Parish Church.

He initially refused to compete on Sundays due to his devout Christian beliefs, a decision which cost him a chance to compete in the 1991 World Championships. However in 1993, after much deliberation and discussion with his father (a vicar), he changed his mind, deciding that God gave him his talent in order for him to compete in the 1993 World Championships.

On 2 February 2007 it was widely reported that Edwards had lost his faith in God despite him once saying "My relationship with Jesus and God is fundamental to everything I do. I have made a commitment and dedication in that relationship to serve God in every area of my life." ^[1]

The Daily Mail described Edwards as a "man deeply troubled by the collapse of his Christian faith" but revealed that a friend said "[Edwards] has a deep, theological comprehension of the Bible, making his spiritual meltdown even more unlikely ... They still go to church as a family"^[2] though the revelation about his crisis of faith is said to be undermining his 16-year marriage to Alison, the mother of his two sons, Sam and Nathan.^[3] The Daily Mail article also quoted Edwards as saying that he is going through a difficult period in his life, one that is deeply personal to him and his family such that he does not wish to comment on.^[2]

[edit] References

1. ^ ^{a b} "Edwards jumps job after crisis of faith", Daily Mail, 2 February 2007
2. ^ ^{a b} "Olympic champ Jonathan Edwards insists his marriage is intact despite his Christianity crisis", Daily Mail, 12 February 2007
3. ^ [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/02/12/nedwards12.xml "Olympian Jonathan Edwards has 'crisis of faith'", Tom Knight, The Daily Telegraph, 12 February 2007

[edit] External links

• IAAF profile for Jonathan Edwards
• Biography at BBC Songs of Praise