Benjamin Jones (cyclist)

Benjamin Jones in 1908

Benjamin "Ben" Jones (born January 2, 1882 in Wigan ; † August 20, 1963 in Johannesburg , South Africa ) was a British cyclist who successfully competed over several distances in track cycling at the 1908 Summer Olympics in London .

As a member of the Wigan Bicycle Club, the miner was a British 5- mile title holder and holder of the national record.

He won the gold medal in the 5000m competition in the 1908 Summer Olympics at White City Stadium and in the team pursuit as a member of the British team. In addition, he won the silver medal in the race over the 20 km distance.

He also took part in the competition over 660 yards , but where he was eliminated in the semifinals . He was also a finalist in the 1000-meter race, which was not counted because the time limit of 105 seconds was exceeded. Despite the short distance, this race was marked by tire damage by the actual favorites Clarence Kingsbury and Victor Johnson , so that the exceeding of the time limit could have been explained by unexpected handicaps. For his second place behind the Frenchman Maurice Schilles , Jones received no medal.

In 1908 Jones finished second in the amateur sprint competition at the 1908 UCI Track World Championships in Leipzig. In 1910 he won the world championship title over the 5 miles in Berlin .

He later joined the Salford Harriers Cycling Team, where he competed in Manchester , mainly on the Belle Vue circuit. As a member of the "Salford Harriers" he won the national title four times between 1911 and 1914 over his preferred distance in South Africa . It is said that he later moved from Manchester to London, where he competed for the cycling teams of Southwark and the Putney Cycle Club.

Nothing is known about the further course of the career and life of this versatile cyclist.

Web links

• Profile on www.databaseolympics.com
• Photo by Topical Press Agency / Getty Images at www.viewimages.com
• Benjamin Jones in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )

Single receipts

1. ↑ www.wiganworld.co.uk
2. ↑ Manchester Sports & Olympic Champions (2 of 7) ( Memento of the original from January 27, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.