Jim Peters (athlete)
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | James Henry Peters |
| Nationality |  England |
| Born | October 24, 1918 Hackney, Greater London |
| Died | Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist. Thorpe Bay, Southend-on-Sea |
| Sport | |
| Sport | Running |
| Event(s) | Marathon |
| Club | Essex Beagles |
Jim Peters (24 October 1918 in London – 9 January 1999 in Thorpe Bay) was a long-distance runner from England. He broke the world record for the men's marathon four times in the 1950s. He was the first runner to complete a marathon under 2 hours 20 minutes – an achievement which was equated to the breaking of the four-minute mile. He achieved this at the Polytechnic Marathon of 1953, a point-to-point race from Windsor to Chiswick, West-London.
Later that same year Peters set the first sub-2:20 clocking on an out-and-back course, at the Enschede Marathon, the Netherlands.
At the 1954 Vancouver Commonwealth Games he reached the stadium in first place, 17 minutes ahead of the next runner, but collapsed repeatedly and failed to finish. After covering just 200 metres in 11 minutes, he was stretchered away and never raced again. "I was lucky not to have died that day", he later said. His Games kit, including plimsolls and the special medal which following the games the Duke of Edinburgh sent to Jim inscribed "To a most gallant marathon runner." were given to The Sports Hall of Fame, Vancouver in 1967 for exhibition.
He served as president of the then recently formed Road Runners Club from 1955 - 1956.
After retiring from competitive athletics, Peters worked as an optician in Mitcham, Surrey and Chadwell Heath, Essex.
Achievements
| Year | Competition | Venue | Position | Event | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Representing  United Kingdom |
|||||
| 1948 | Olympic Games | London, United Kingdom | 8th | 10,000 metres | 31:16.0 |
| 1952 | Polytechnic Marathon | Windsor, Berkshire, United Kingdom | 1st | Marathon | 2:20:42.2 WR |
| 1952 | Olympic Games | Helsinki, Finland | — | Marathon | DNF |
| 1953 | Polytechnic Marathon | Windsor, Berkshire, United Kingdom | 1st | Marathon | 2:18:40.2 WR |
| 1953 | Enschede Marathon | Enschede, Netherlands | 1st | Marathon | 2:19:22 |
| 1954 | Polytechnic Marathon | Windsor, Berkshire, United Kingdom | 1st | Marathon | 2:17:39.4 WR |
References
| Records | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Men's Marathon World Record Holder 14 June 1952 – 24 August 1958 |
Succeeded by Sergei Popov |
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This biographical article relating to English athletics is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
- No local image but image on Wikidata
- 1918 births
- 1999 deaths
- People from Hackney
- Sportspeople from London
- British long-distance runners
- English long-distance runners
- Male long-distance runners
- British marathon runners
- English marathon runners
- Male marathon runners
- British male athletes
- English sportsmen
- Olympic athletes of Great Britain
- Athletes (track and field) at the 1948 Summer Olympics
- Athletes (track and field) at the 1952 Summer Olympics
- Commonwealth Games competitors for England
- Athletes (track and field) at the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games
- Former world record holders in athletics (track and field)
- English athletics biography stubs
