Jonathan David Edwards, (born 10 May 1966) is a British former

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 ...

er. He is an Olympic, double

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, European, European indoor and Commonwealth champion, and has held the world record in the event since 1995. Edwards is widely regarded as the greatest triple-jumper in history. Following his retirement as an athlete, Edwards has worked as a sports (primarily athletics) commentator and presenter for

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

television, before moving to

Eurosport Eurosport is a group of pay television networks in Europe and parts of Asia, owned and operated by Warner Bros. Discovery through its WBD Sports unit, it operates two main channels—Eurosport 1 and Eurosport 2—across most of its territorie ...

. In 2011 he was elected President of the

Wenlock Olympian Society The Wenlock Olympian Games, dating from 1850, are a forerunner of the modern Olympic Games. They are organised by the Wenlock Olympian Society (WOS), and are held each year at venues across Shropshire, England, centred on the market town of Much ...

following the death of its then President, Roy Rogers. He was a member of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games for the 2012 games.

Education

Edwards was born in

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London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and attended West Buckland School in

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

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 and Steve Ojomoh, both former Bath and England Rugby international players. Edwards now has a Sports Hall at West Buckland named after him, ''The Jonathan Edwards Sports Centre''. Edwards then studied Physics at

Durham University Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament (UK), Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by r ...

, attending Van Mildert College.

Athletics career

Due to his strong Christian beliefs during his athletic career, discussed in more detail below, he initially refused to compete on Sundays, but eventually decided to do so in 1993. This decision 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 A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receives ...

. In his breakthrough year of 1995, Edwards produced a jump of 18.43 m (60 feet inches) 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 a historic

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have b ...

performance at the World Championships, in which he broke the world record twice in the same meeting. On his first jump, he became the first man to legally pass the 18-metre barrier with a jump of 18.16 m (59 feet 7 inches). That record lasted for about 20 minutes. His second jump of 18.29 m made him the first to jump 60 feet. During his commentary for the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

, Edwards observed that during the 1995 World Championships, he felt as if "he could jump as far as he needed to". Later that same year, Edwards became the BBC Sports Personality of the Year. During 1996 Edwards went into 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, ...

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 Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...

after a leap of 17.88 m (the longest ever jump not to win gold). Edwards won the gold medal 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 ...

, and was appointed a CBE shortly thereafter. He also won golds at the 2001 World Championships and

2002 Commonwealth Games The 2002 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XVII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Manchester 2002, were an international multi-sport event for the members of the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth held in Manchester, England, ...

. At one point in 2002, Edwards held all the gold medals for the "four majors" (Olympic Games, World Championships, Commonwealth Games and European Championships). He retired after the 2003 World Championships.

Post-athletics career

Following his retirement, Edwards has pursued a media career as a television presenter mainly working for the

as a sports commentator and presenter, and on programmes such as '' Songs of Praise'' until he gave up this programme, due to his loss of faith, in February 2007. Edwards regularly presented BBC coverage of athletics. When he is not presenting coverage, Edwards often provided expert analysis on field events as part of the BBC commentary team. For the London 2012 Olympics, Edwards anchored the BBC's coverage of the athletics events. After retiring from competition, Edwards became a keen recreational cyclist and has presented the BBC's coverage of cycle racing since 2012. He also covered the 2014 Winter Olympics for the BBC and the 2014 Winter Paralympics for

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

. Edwards also served as a presenter for the Olympic Announcement ceremonies during the IOC sessions in

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in 2007 and

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in 2009. In 2004, Edwards joined with Paula Radcliffe on an ''Olympic Special Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?''. The pair raised £64,000 for charity with half of that sum going to the

British Olympic Association The British Olympic Association (BOA; ) is the National Olympic Committee for the United Kingdom. It represents the four constituent countries of the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland), but also incorporate represen ...

and a quarter of the sum going to Asthma UK. In 2011, Edwards became President of Wenlock Olympian Society, organisers of the annual Wenlock Olympian Games held in

Shropshire Shropshire (; abbreviated SalopAlso used officially as the name of the county from 1974–1980. The demonym for inhabitants of the county "Salopian" derives from this name.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West M ...

. He was a member of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, representing athletes in the organisation of the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

. In February 2016, after 13 years with the BBC, Edwards announced that he had agreed to join

on an exclusive contract as the channel's lead presenter from 2017, although he would continue working for the BBC and Channel 4 on their coverage of the 2016 Summer Olympics and Paralympics alongside duties with Eurosport until the end of 2016, with his first anchoring role for the pay TV channel being the 2016 European Aquatics Championships in May in London. For the BBC's Olympic coverage in Rio, Edwards was a lead presenter on BBC Radio 5 Live and presented the television coverage of triathlon events.

International competitions

Personal bests

*Triple Jump – 18.29 m (WR), 18.43 m ( +2.4 m) (not ratified due to excessive wind conditions) *100 m – 10.48 s *Long jump – 7.41 m

Awards

Edwards received an honorary doctorate from

Heriot-Watt University Heriot-Watt University () is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was established in 1821 as the School of Arts of Edinburgh, the world's first mechanics' institute, and was subsequently granted university status by roya ...

in 2002. An honorary doctorate was conferred upon him at a ceremony at the

University of Exeter The University of Exeter is a research university in the West Country of England, with its main campus in Exeter, Devon. Its predecessor institutions, St Luke's College, Exeter School of Science, Exeter School of Art, and the Camborne School of ...

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 (19 December 2006).

Personal life

Edwards lives with his wife in

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne, or simply Newcastle ( , Received Pronunciation, RP: ), is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is England's northernmost metropolitan borough, located o ...

. They have two sons. Edwards was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' opposing Scottish independence in the run-up to the 2014 referendum on that issue.

Religious beliefs

Edwards initially refused to compete on Sundays due to his devout

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

beliefs, a decision that cost him a chance to compete in the 1991 World Championships. However, in 1993, after much deliberation and discussion with his father (a

vicar A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English p ...

), he changed his mind, deciding that God gave him his talent in order for him to compete in athletics. He once said "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." He presented episodes of the Christian television show '' Songs of Praise'' until 2007. In June 2007, in an interview in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'', Edwards said: "When you think about it rationally, it does seem incredibly improbable that there is a God." In the same interview, he stated: "Looking back now, I can see that my faith was not only pivotal to my decision to take up sport but also my success... I was always dismissive of sports psychology when I was competing, but I now realise that my belief in God was sports psychology in all but name." He has since described himself as “probably agnostic, but practically an atheist,” and has expressed contentment with his current worldview, stating "I feel internally happier than at any time of my life.""'I have never been happier' says the man who won gold but lost God"
''The Times'', 27 June 2007.

References

External links

* * * * * * http://www.mtc-uk.com/talent/jonathan-edwards/ * http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/athletics/sydney-medallist-emabrrassed-by-god-fervour/story-e6frfgkx-1225815303222
Jonathan Edwards, Interview on London's 2012 Olympic Games
{{DEFAULTSORT:Edwards, Jonathan 1966 births Living people Sportspeople from Gosforth People from Westminster Athletes from the City of Westminster English sports broadcasters English television presenters English male non-fiction writers English male triple jumpers British male triple jumpers Olympic male triple jumpers Olympic athletes for Great Britain Olympic gold medallists for Great Britain Olympic silver medallists for Great Britain Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field) Olympic silver medalists in athletics (track and field) Athletes (track and field) at the 1988 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1992 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1996 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2000 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics English Olympic competitors Commonwealth Games gold medallists for England Commonwealth Games silver medallists for England Commonwealth Games gold medallists in athletics Commonwealth Games silver medallists in athletics Athletes (track and field) at the 1990 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1994 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2002 Commonwealth Games World Athletics Championships athletes for Great Britain World Athletics Championships winners World Athletics Championships medalists European Athletics Championships medalists Goodwill Games medalists in athletics Competitors at the 1998 Goodwill Games Competitors at the 2001 Goodwill Games AAA Championships winners World Athletics record holders World record holders in masters athletics European Athlete of the Year winners BBC Sports Personality of the Year winners Commanders of the Order of the British Empire English former Christians People educated at West Buckland School Alumni of Van Mildert College, Durham Goodwill Games gold medalists in athletics Medallists at the 1990 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 1994 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 2002 Commonwealth Games