Jenny Meadows

Jennifer Meadows

Personal information
Born	17 April 1981 Wigan, Greater Manchester
Height	1.52 m (5 ft 0 in)
Weight	47 kg (104 lb)
Sport
Country	Great Britain
Club	Wigan & District Harriers
Turned pro	2004
Achievements and titles
Highest world ranking	400 m: 74 (2003) 800 m: 3 (2009)
Personal best(s)	400 m 52.50 800 m 1.57.93 800 m (i) 1:58.43
Medal record Women's athletics Representing  Great Britain World Championships 2009 Berlin 800 m European Championships 2010 Barcelona 800 m World Indoor Championships 2010 Doha 800 m European Indoor Championships 2011 Paris 800 m 2011 Paris 4 × 400 m relay World Junior Championships 2000 Santiago 4 × 400 m relay European U23 Championships 2001 Amsterdam 4 × 400 m relay
Updated on 26 February 2010.

Jennifer Brenda "Jenny" Meadows (born 17 April 1981 in Wigan, Greater Manchester) is a British athlete. Her main event is the 800 m, although she previously competed over the 400 m.

She is the fourth-fastest British woman over 800 m, behind Kelly Holmes, Kirsty Wade and Lynsey Sharp.

Early career

Schools championships

Jenny Meadows (AKA Jennifer Meadows) was the winner in the English Schools Junior Championships in 800 m 1995. In 1998, she was 3rd at the AAA Junior Indoor Championships over 400 m. She also made her junior international debut and finished second in the English Schools Championships.

GB team

In 2000, she ran the fastest leg for the Great British team at the World Junior Championships, helping to secure the gold medal. In 2001, she finished 6th at the European Under 23 Championships, and gained a gold medal on the 4 × 400 m relay.

Senior career

In 2002 Meadows won a silver medal at the Commonwealth Games as part of the England 4 × 400 m relay squad (she ran in the heats but not the final). In 2004 she competed at the World Indoor Championships in Moscow.

2006–2008

At the 2007 World Championships, she qualified into the semi-finals, coming second in her heat with a new outside personal best time of 2:00.14. Fellow British athletes Marilyn Okoro and Jemma Simpson also qualified second in their heats, however Meadows had the fastest time of all three. All three British women failed to progress to the finals, despite both Okoro and Meadows receiving personal bests, and Meadows becoming the 8th fastest British woman of all time over 800 m.

Meadows started 2008 in fine style with wins including the AAA title beating Okoro. Selected for the World Indoor team she ran a personal best indoors (1.59.71/3rd British all-time list indoors) to make the final. In the final itself Meadows came 5th.

2008 Olympics

On 21 June 2008 in Annecy, Meadows ran brilliantly to win her first European Cup victory over 800 m. On 18 July 2008 Meadows improved her personal best in the 800 m to 1:59.11 at the Paris Golden League meeting. On 19 July 2008 her place in the Beijing 2008 Great Britain Olympic Team was confirmed along with Marilyn Okoro and Jemma Simpson. Meadows qualified for the semi-final of the 800 m in the Olympic Games after finishing 3rd in her heat with a time of 2.00.33, and in the semi itself ran close to her personal best in a time of 1.59.43, finishing in 6th place.

Meadows had a successful indoor season during 2009 winning the UK Championships and European Indoor Trials, setting a new indoor personal best of 1.59.52 in the Birmingham Indoor Grand Prix and finishing in 4th place in the European Indoor Championships in Turin, Italy.

2009 World Championships

On 27 July 2009, her place in the Great Britain Team for the IAAF World Championships in Berlin, Germany, in August was confirmed, along with Jemma Simpson and Marilyn Okoro. On 28 July 2009, Meadows set a new outdoor personal best of 1.58.63 at the IAAF Super Grand Prix, Herculis, Monaco.^[1] On 19 August, Meadows took the bronze medal in the 800 m World Championship finals in a new personal best of 1.57.93. In a quick BBC interview after winning the bronze medal, Meadows commented: "It proves you should never say never, you should always believe in yourself. If you work hard and keep the faith, good things will happen."^[2]

2010 World Indoor Championships & European Championships

Meadows started the season in great form and on 20 February 2010 broke the British indoor 800 m record, formerly held by Kelly Holmes, with a 1:59:11 in Birmingham. She won silver at the World Indoor Championships in Doha on 14 March 2010, setting a personal best and a new British indoor record of 1:58.43 which she previously set on 20 February 2010. At the 2010 European Athletics Championships in Barcelona Meadows reached the final and came back with a bronze medal.

2011 European Indoor Championships

Jenny Meadows spent December (2010) and January (2011) training at Club La Santa in Lanzarote^[3] and moved onto South Africa to continue training with her physiotherapy and fitness team Harris & Ross^[4] as she aims to reach the World Outdoor Championships in South Korea.

On 6 March 2011, she achieved Silver in the 800m and returned to the track an hour later to anchor the 4 × 400 m relay team to another Silver in the European Indoor Championships in Paris. On 3 July 2012, Meadow's silver was upgraded to gold following the disqualification of Yevgeniya Zinurova.

2011 National Championships

On 31 July 2011, at the age of 30, Jenny finally won her first national outdoor senior title with an 800m victory at the Aviva National Championships in Birmingham, to become National Champion.

2011 Diamond League

Meadows won three of the seven Diamond League 800 metres races in 2011 – in Shanghai, Birmingham and London (earning $10,000 a win) – to win the overall Diamond League 800 m title. Each overall winner earned an additional $40,000 (US Dollars) in prize money.

2012

An Achilles injury picked up at the start of 2012 was to render her unable to compete for the year.

2013

Jenny made a competitive return to the track and was awarded the Captaincy of the Great Britain team at the European Indoor Championships in Gothenburg. Jenny performed strongly to reach the final, finishing a credible 4th. Injury blighted Jenny's 2013 outdoor season and her focus has turned to 2014 and adding to her medal haul.

2014

Jenny returned to competition at the start of 2014 running the indoor season and then taking part in her first outdoor season since 2011. She has steadily been improving performances and on 16 June 2014 Jenny's place in the England Team for the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow was announced. At the British National Championships on 30 June Jenny secured a Bronze medal. At the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow Jenny finished in 6th place.

Non-competitive career

Jenny Meadows used to be head athletics coach for Manchester City Council. She has appeared on the BBC's A Question of Sport in Matt Dawson's team on 13 March 2010, and on the BBC's Mastermind in December 2011, in which her specialist subject was Wigan Warriors.

References

1. Turner, Chris (2009-07-28). Hurdlers delight on a spectacular evening in Monaco – IAAF World Athletics Tour. IAAF. Retrieved on 2009-07-31.
2. Kessel, Anna (2009-08-19). Caster Semenya wins 800m gold but cannot escape gender controversy. Retrieved on 2009-12-13.
3. Club La Santa December 2010
4. http://www.harrisandross.co.uk/jenny-meadows-strengthens-support-team

External links

• Jenny Meadows profile at Power of 10
• Official website