John David Howell (born 10 April 1936) is a former British

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

er.

Biography

Howell was born in London, England and was a member of the

Herne Hill Harriers The Herne Hill Harriers is an amateur athletics sports club based at Tooting Bec Athletics Track in Tooting Bec, London. The club caters to all levels and ages of track, field, road running and cross-country running and begins training athlete ...

. He first competed internationally at the

1960 Summer Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad () and commonly known as Rome 1960 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 25 August to 11 September 1960 in Rome, Italy. Rome had previously been awar ...

in Rome, Italy. Representing Great Britain, he finished in 27th place in the qualifying round of the

event with a jump of 7.19 metres. Howell finished second behind John Oladitan in the long jump event at the

1961 AAA Championships The 1961 AAA Championships was the 1961 edition of the annual outdoor track and field competition organised by the Amateur Athletic Association (AAA). It was held from 14 to 15 July 1961 at White City Stadium in London, England. Summary The ...

and second behind

Jorma Valkama Jorma Rainer Valkama (4 October 1928 – 11 December 1962) was a Finnish athlete who competed mainly in the long jump and participated at three Olympic Games. Biography Valkama competed for Finland in the 1956 Summer Olympics held in Melb ...

at the

1962 AAA Championships The 1962 AAA Championships was the 1962 edition of the annual outdoor track and field competition organised by the Amateur Athletic Association (AAA). It was held from 13 to 14 July 1962 at White City Stadium White City Stadium in London, ...

but by virtue of being the highest placed British athlete he was considered the British long jump champion. Shortly afterwards at the

1962 European Athletics Championships The 7th European Athletics Championships were held from 12–16 September 1962 in the JNA Stadium in Belgrade, Yugoslavia (present-day Serbia). Contemporaneous reports on the event were given in the ''Glasgow Herald''. Just before the m ...

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

, Howell finished seventh in the final of the

with a leap of . and two months later representing

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, Howell finished in eighth place in the

at the

1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games The 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games were held in Perth, Western Australia, from 22 November to 1 December 1962. Athletic events were held at Perry Lakes Stadium in the suburb of Floreat and swimming events at Beatty Park in North ...

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

, Western Australia with a jump of . At the same meet, Howell finished 11th in the

triple jump The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down the tr ...

with a leap of and was also due to compete in the

high jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

but pulled out to focus on the other events.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Howell, John 1936 births Living people Athletes from London English male long jumpers British male long jumpers Olympic athletes for Great Britain Commonwealth Games athletes for England Athletes (track and field) at the 1960 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games