Jack Parker (hurdler)
| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
Competitor for  Great Britain | ||
| Men’s Athletics | ||
| European Championships | ||
.svg.png){kind=icon} | 1954 Berne | 110 m hurdles |
Frederick John "Jack" Parker (born 6 September 1927) is a former British international hurdler. He competed at the 1952 Summer Olympics and the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games. He was the silver medallist in the 110 metres hurdles at the 1954 European Athletics Championships.
He was educated at Shene Grammar School in London and at Liverpool University. From 1951 to 1955 he won three Amateur Athletic Association Championships. He reached the semi-final of the 1952 Helsinki Olympics and was placed fourth in the final of the 1954 Vancouver Commonwealth Games. He won the silver medal at the 1954 European Championships. During these years he won the high hurdles event in nine out of the thirteen full-scale British International matches.
His fastest time was 14.3 seconds which he achieved when winning the 120 yards hurdles at the White City in July 1955, a new English native record. It equalled Donald Finlay's 110 metres mark set in Paris in 1938.
In 1955 he was placed eighth in the Track and Field News world ranking list a performance not achieved by any other British athlete in the men's high hurdles until David Hemery in 1969.
As a Civil Engineer he was posted to Malawi in September 1955. There were no athletic facilities and despite the lack of training over a period of six months he held his place in the National team and competed in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, tripping on a turtle and hitting a hurdle hard, eventually being eliminated in the first round.
He retired from athletics to work in Hong Kong and subsequently became President of the Chartered Institute of Highways and Transportation. At the close of his working career, he was Chief Highway Engineer at the Department of Transport.