Jonathan A. Drummond (born September 9, 1968) is an American

athlete An athlete is most commonly a person who competes in one or more sports involving physical strength, speed, power, or endurance. Sometimes, the word "athlete" is used to refer specifically to sport of athletics competitors, i.e. including track ...

, winner of gold medal in 4 × 100 m

relay A relay Electromechanical relay schematic showing a control coil, four pairs of normally open and one pair of normally closed contacts An automotive-style miniature relay with the dust cover taken off A relay is an electrically operated switc ...

at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...

Career

Born in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

, Pennsylvania, Jon Drummond, a graduate of Overbrook High School, is known for being among the world's best starters. He is also well known for what could be called showmanship or taunting depending on one's perspective. Drummond has been called the "Clown Prince" of Track and Field. His "showmanship" was visible with his membership in the

HSI HSI may refer to: Government and politics * Croatian Syrmian Initiative, a political party in Serbia () * Hispanic-serving institution, an American college designation * Homeland Security Investigations, an American law enforcement agency * Human ...

enclave, along with training partners Maurice Greene and

Ato Boldon Ato Jabari Boldon (born 30 December 1973) is a Trinidadian former track and field athlete, politician, and four-time Olympic medal winner. He holds the Trinidad and Tobago national record in the 50, 60 and 200 metres events with times of 5.64 ...

. In 1991, Drummond won the 200 m at the World University Games and the British

AAA Championships The AAA Championships was an annual track and field competition organised by the Amateur Athletic Association of England. It was the foremost domestic athletics event in the United Kingdom during its lifetime, despite the existence of the offi ...

title at the

1991 AAA Championships The 1991 AAA Championships sponsored by Panasonic, were an outdoor track and field competition organised by the Amateur Athletic Association (AAA), held from 26 to 27 July at Alexander Stadium in Birmingham, England. It was considered the de facto ...

. At the 1993 World Championships, Drummond ran the opening leg on the American 4 × 100 m relay team, which won the gold medal and equalled the

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organizatio ...

of 37.40. At the 1995 World Championships, he ran the second leg on the American 4 × 100 m relay team, which did not finish its heat after Drummond and Tony McCall failed to complete their pass. Drummond was the opening leg of the silver medal-winning American 4 × 100 m relay team at the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

and reached the semi-finals of 100 m. In 1997, Drummond won his only US National Championships title in 200 m and at the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

, Drummond was seventh in 200 m. In 1999, Drummond suffered a third case of spinal meningitis but managed to recover to run the opening leg in a gold medal-winning American 4 × 100 m relay team at the 1999 World Championships. At the

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Olympics The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a variety of competit ...

, Drummond was fifth in 100 m and ran again the opening leg on the American 4 × 100 m relay team, which won the gold medal. At the 2001 World Championships, Drummond was again selected to run the first leg in relay, but suffered a torn right quadriceps halfway to passing the baton to Mickey Grimes in the first round and did not run in the final. He did however complete the pass to Grimes in first place allowing the team to continue onto the finals. In 2002, Drummond was fourth in 100 m and won the 4 × 100 m relay in the

IAAF World Cup The IAAF Continental Cup was an international track and field competition organized by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). The event was proposed by IAAF former President Primo Nebiolo and was first held in 1977 as ...

. At the 2003 World Championships, he was disqualified in the quarterfinals of 100 m for a

false start In sports, a false start is a disallowed start, usually due to a movement by a participant before (or in some cases after) being signaled or otherwise permitted by the rules to start. Depending on the sport and the event, a false start can resu ...

. However, he contested that he did not false start, repeatedly shouting "I did not move". He delayed competition for almost an hour by refusing to leave the

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track where the meet was being held. He protested for a period of time by lying down on the track. He eventually left the track of his own volition, reportedly in tears. It is one of a number of cases which relate to the revised false-start policies.

After retirement

At the 2012 London Olympics, Drummond was the relay coach for the U.S. Track Team. The men's 4 × 100 metres relay team equalled the existing world record in the Olympics, though were defeated by a new world record by Jamaica. The women's team won and crushed the world record. In an event where improvements are normally recorded in hundredths of a second, the team knocked more than a half a second off the record that had stood for more than a quarter of a century. Drummond worked as a fitness trainer at Daired's Pangea Spa in

Arlington, Texas Arlington is a city in Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, Texas, United States. It is part of the Mid-Cities region of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan statistical area, and is a principal c ...

. He also formerly coached sprinter

Tyson Gay Tyson Gay (born August 9, 1982) is a retired American track and field sprint (running), sprinter who competed in the 100 metres, 100 and 200 metres, 200 meters. His 100 m personal best of 9.69 seconds is the United States records in track ...

. He is also a member of

Kappa Alpha Psi Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. () is a List of African-American fraternities, historically African American Fraternities and sororities, fraternity. Since the fraternity's founding on January 5, 1911, at Indiana University Bloomington, it has n ...

fraternity and was formerly a member of

Kirk Franklin Kirk Dewayne Franklin (born January 26, 1970) is an American Gospel music, gospel musician. One of the List of best-selling gospel music artists, best-selling gospel music artists, his accolades include 20 Grammy Awards. ''Variety (magazine), Var ...

's gospel group The Family. He has also followed in his minister father's footsteps as pastor at Noville Memorial Church of God in Christ in Philadelphia. He was Inducted into the Texas Track and Field Coaches Hall of Fame, Class of 2014. In 2014,

, Drummond's former athlete tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs. Drummond was implicated, as it was alleged Drummond "encouraged his use of the banned products and transported them for him." The investigation resulted in an eight-year ban from the sport for Drummond. Drummond was banned until December 16, 2022.

Personal Bests

References

External links

Jon Drummond
at

USATF USA Track & Field (USATF) is a United States national governing body for the sports of track and field, cross country running, road running, and racewalking (known as the sport of athletics outside the US). The USATF was known between 1979 and 1 ...

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Drummond, Jon 1968 births Doping cases in athletics American sportspeople in doping cases Living people Track and field athletes from Philadelphia African-American track and field athletes American male sprinters Athletes (track and field) at the 1991 Pan American Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1996 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2000 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the United States in track and field Olympic silver medalists for the United States in track and field American track and field coaches World Athletics Championships medalists Junior college men's track and field athletes in the United States Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) Goodwill Games medalists in athletics FISU World University Games gold medalists for the United States USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners USA Indoor Track and Field Championships winners World Athletics Championships winners Medalists at the 1991 Summer Universiade Competitors at the 1998 Goodwill Games Competitors at the 1994 Goodwill Games Pan American Games track and field athletes for the United States TCU Horned Frogs men's track and field athletes 21st-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century American sportsmen NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners