Manchester City Games 2009 - Men's final 2 (crop2)

Marlon Ronald Devonish, (born 1 June 1976) is an English former

sprint Sprint may refer to: Aerospace *Spring WS202 Sprint, a Canadian aircraft design *Sprint (missile), an anti-ballistic missile Automotive and motorcycle *Alfa Romeo Sprint, automobile produced by Alfa Romeo between 1976 and 1989 *Chevrolet Sprint, ...

er who competed in the

100 metres The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been contest ...

and

200 metres The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slightl ...

. A prodigious relay runner with particular strength as a 'bend' runner, Devonish ran the third leg for the Great Britain quartet which won the 4 x 100 metres at the 2004 Olympic Games, and won four World Championship medals in the same event in 1999, 2005, 2007 and 2009.

Early life

Devonish attended

Caludon Castle School Caludon Castle School is an academy in Wyken, Coventry, England. The school was founded in 1954 as a boys' comprehensive school, but is now a co-educational 11-18 comprehensive school with a sixth form. In September 2004, the school was designa ...

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a city in the West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its city status until the Middle Ages. The city is governed ...

Career

He is a member of the Coventry Godiva Harriers athletics club and was coached by Tony Lester. Early in his career he was successful at both 100 and 200-metre distances, winning English Schools and European Junior titles at both, but in later years he concentrated mostly on the longer distance. He was also a regular member of both the British and, 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 British Empire Game ...

, English 4 x 100-metre sprint relay teams, to some considerable success. He is a current

Commonwealth Games record Commonwealth Games records are the best performances in a specific edition of the event's history. As the Commonwealth Games only accepts athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations, the records are not considered as prestigious as World records ...

holder in the relay event. The most notable achievement of his career came at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. There Devonish, along with Jason Gardener, Darren Campbell and Mark Lewis-Francis, won a gold medal in the 4 x 100 m. relay, where the quartet defeated the pre-race favourites, United States team, by just 0.01 seconds, in a season's best of 38.07. At the British Championships (and team trials for the 2006 European Championships) in July 2006, Devonish became the first man since

Linford Christie Linford Cicero Christie (born 2 April 1960) is a Jamaican-born British former sprinter. He is the only British man to have won gold medals in the 100 metres at all four major competitions open to British athletes: the Olympic Games, the Worl ...

in 1988 to win both the 100 m and 200 m races at the event. At the championship finals, he took the bronze medal in the 200 m. Devonish retained his 100 m title at the British Championships the following year. For the 2007 season Devonish improved his performance in the 100 m with a new personal best and competed in this event at the 2007 World Championships in

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of ...

rather than the 200 m which he had previously specialised in. Devonish finished 6th in the 100 m final. Devonish represented Great Britain at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. He competed at the 4x100 metres relay together with

Simeon Williamson Simeon Oscar Williamson (born 16 January 1986) is an English bobsledder and former track and field sprinter who specialised in the 100 metres., beijing2008.cn, ret: 26 August 2008 Williamson, a London native, is the second cousin to 2008 Beijing ...

, Tyrone Edgar and Craig Pickering. In their qualification heat they were disqualified and eliminated. He also took part in the

individual, finishing first with a time of 20.49 seconds in his first round heat. With 20.43 seconds in his second round he only placed fourth in his heat, but his time was among the four best losing times and enough to qualify for the semi-finals. There he came to 20.57 seconds and the seventh time in his race, which was not enough for the final. He competed at the 2009

Manchester City Games The Great Manchester Run (styled as the ''Simplyhealth Great Manchester Run'' for sponsorship purposes from 2017) is an annual run through Greater Manchester (namely Manchester, Trafford and Salford). It has consisted of a 10k run since it was es ...

, finishing second in the

150 metres 150 metres is a sprint event in track and field. It is a very rarely contested non-championship and not an IAAF-recognised event. Given the proportion of standard running tracks, the event typically incorporates a bend when held in a track and f ...

final in 15.07 seconds. He was beaten by

Usain Bolt Usain St. Leo Bolt, , (; born 21 August 1986) is a retired Jamaican sprinter, widely considered to be the greatest sprinter of all time. He is the world record holder in the 100 metres, 200 metres, and 4 × 100 metres relay. An eight-ti ...

who ran a world best-beating time. On 22 August 2009, Devonish was a member of the

Great Britain and Northern Ireland The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

men's 4x100m relay team that took bronze at the IAAF World Championships in Berlin with a season's best of 38.02. Harry Aikines-Aryeetey,

and Tyrone Edgar ran the other legs.

Post-athletics

On 16 July 2013, Devonish was brought in as sprint coach for

Gloucester Rugby Gloucester Rugby are a professional rugby union club based in the West Country city of Gloucester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby, as well as in the European Rugby Champions Cup. The club was formed i ...

Kingsholm Stadium Kingsholm Stadium is a rugby union stadium located in the Kingsholm area of Gloucester, England, and is the home stadium of Gloucester Rugby. The stadium has a capacity of 16,115. It is sometimes nicknamed 'Castle Grim', after the estate where ...

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east of t ...

. On 8 January 2018, Devonish started working for the British International School Shanghai located in

Puxi Puxi (Chinese: , p ''Pǔxī'', Shanghainese ''Phu上-shi平'', lit "Huangpu West Bank") is the historic center of Shanghai, China, and remains the home of approximately 48% of Shanghai's residents in an area of 288 km². ''Puxi'' is disting ...

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...

, China as their elite athlete performance coach in residence.

International competition record

¹Representing Europe
²Did not finish in the final

Personal bests

References

External links

*
'Marlon hails sprint revival' – BBC.co.uk, 29 August 2004
{{DEFAULTSORT:Devonish, Marlon 1976 births Living people Sportspeople from Coventry English male sprinters British male sprinters Olympic male sprinters Olympic athletes of Great Britain Olympic gold medallists for Great Britain Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field) Athletes (track and field) at the 2000 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics English Olympic medallists Commonwealth Games gold medallists for England Commonwealth Games silver medallists for England Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics Commonwealth Games gold medallists in athletics Athletes (track and field) at the 1998 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2002 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2006 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2010 Commonwealth Games Goodwill Games medalists in athletics Competitors at the 2001 Goodwill Games World Athletics Championships medalists World Athletics Indoor Championships winners IAAF Continental Cup winners European Athletics Championships winners European Athletics Championships medalists British Athletics Championships winners AAA Championships winners Members of the Order of the British Empire Black British sportspeople English people of Jamaican descent Goodwill Games gold medalists in athletics