Randal Jones (born June 24, 1969 in

Winston-Salem, North Carolina Winston-Salem is a city and the county seat of Forsyth County, North Carolina, United States. In the 2020 census, the population was 249,545, making it the second-largest municipality in the Piedmont Triad region, the 5th most populous city in ...

) is an American

bobsled Bobsleigh or bobsled is a team winter sport that involves making timed runs down narrow, twisting, banked, iced tracks in a gravity-powered sleigh. International bobsleigh competitions are governed by the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Fede ...

der. Jones competed in both the 2-man and 4-man events in four

Winter Olympics The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were h ...

High school

Jones attended Robert B. Glenn High School in

Kernersville, North Carolina Kernersville is a town in Forsyth County and the largest suburb of Winston-Salem. The town is located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. A small portion of the town is also in Guilford County. The population was 26,481 at the 2020 census, ...

and was a standout track and football star. Jones was a big part in leading the school to a state championship in track in 1986. Jones graduated from Glenn High School in 1987.

College career

Jones attended Duke University, where he played football and ran track while earning a

Mechanical Engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, ...

degree. Graduating from Duke in 1991, he still holds five team football records for Duke in kick returns and was also a record-setting track athlete.

Bobsledding career

Jones' track coach at Duke convinced him after graduating to try out for the U.S. Bobsled team. Combined with a desire to see the world, Jones accepted the invitation to join the team. He won the National Brakeman and Side Push Championship twice in both 1992 and 1995, along with the World Cup and Overall Championship in 1992–93. Jones made his Olympic debut in

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson Ma ...

in Lillehammer, finishing 13th in the 2-man event. He came up short in the

1998 Winter Olympics The 1998 Winter Olympics, officially known as the and commonly known as Nagano 1998 ( ja, 長野1998), was a winter multi-sport event held from 7 to 22 February 1998, mainly in Nagano, Japan, with some events taking place in th ...

in Nagano as the 4-man team with driver Brian Shimer and pushers Chip Minton and Garrett Hines missed by .02 seconds of winning a bronze medal, finishing fifth. After winning four World Cup medals, 2002 saw Jones have the best year of his career in bobsledding. At the

2002 Winter Olympics The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 ( arp, Niico'ooowu' 2002; Gosiute dialect, Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; nv, Sooléí 2002; Shoshoni language, Shoshoni: ''Soó ...

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...

, Jones along with driver

Todd Hays Todd Dennys Hays (born May 21, 1969) is a former American bobsledder who competed from 1994 to 2006. Competing in two Winter Olympics, he won the silver medal in the four-man event at Salt Lake City in 2002, breaking a 46-year medal drought f ...

, won a silver medal in the 4-man event. This marked the first time since 1956 that the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

won a medal in men's bobsledding. Jones also won three medals in the four-man event at the

FIBT World Championships The IBSF World Championships (known as the FIBT World Championships until 2015), part of the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation, have taken place on an annual basis since 1930. Starting with 2002, championships of non- Winter Olympic ...

with a silver (

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, disintegrated during reentry into Atmosphere of Earth, Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an 2002– ...

) and two bronzes (

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

). In 2005-06, Jones' best finish in the World Cup was second at the 4-man event held in

Calgary, Alberta, Canada Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, maki ...

. He was at the 2006 Winter Olympics, but did not run in either competition. Jones is now part of the

United States Olympic Committee The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) is the National Olympic Committee and the National Paralympic Committee for the United States. It was founded in 1895 as the United States Olympic Committee, and is headquartered in Col ...

and is widely considered as the most decorated bobsledder in U.S. history.

Personal life

Jones is married to his wife, Cheri Alou, and currently resides in

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,71 ...

. Jones and his wife Cheri also have twins, Roman and Marissa, who reside with them in Atlanta, Georgia. Jones currently works as a Technology Director for Omnicom Media Group.

References

External links

Bobsleigh four-man Olympic medalists for 1924, 1932–56, and since 1964

Black Press USA profile

ESPN.com profile on Jones

FIBT profile

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Randy 1969 births American male bobsledders American football return specialists American male sprinters Bobsledders at the 1994 Winter Olympics Bobsledders at the 1998 Winter Olympics Bobsledders at the 2002 Winter Olympics Bobsledders at the 2006 Winter Olympics Olympic silver medalists for the United States in bobsleigh Duke Blue Devils football players Living people Sportspeople from Atlanta Sportspeople from Winston-Salem, North Carolina Medalists at the 2002 Winter Olympics