James Beckford

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Beckford 2012 in Munich

James Beckford (born January 9, 1975 in Saint Mary Parish ) is a Jamaican long jumper .

Initially, he ran the triple jump in parallel , and on May 20, 1995, he achieved a distance of 17.92 m in Odessa , with which he is still seventh in the all-time world rankings (as of June 2012).

He made his breakthrough in the long jump in the same year at the World Athletics Championships in Gothenburg , where he won silver with a distance of 8.30 m. This made him one of the favorites at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, where he was only beaten by American legend Carl Lewis and won silver.

In 1997 he set his personal best on April 5 in Orlando with 8.62 m. At a meeting in Paris at the end of June, he tested positive for the doping agent ephedrine and banned him for three months. Shortly before the World Championships in Athens in August, however, his suspension was shortened due to a rule change so that he could start and reach fourth place.

At the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, however, he failed in qualifying. The following year he was seventh at the World Championships in Edmonton , and at the 2003 World Championships in Paris / Saint-Denis, he won another silver medal, this time with a width of 8.28 m. At the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, he missed the bronze medal by an inch with 8.31 m and finished fourth.

At the 2005 World Championships in Helsinki he finished ninth, at the 2007 World Championships in Osaka he was sixth.

James Beckford has a competition weight of 73 kg with a height of 1.83 m.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Doping: Beckford suspended , New Straits Times July 19, 1997, p. 36.
  2. ^ Jere Longman: IAAF Reduces Doping Bans , The New York Times August 1, 1997.

Web links