Lou Jones (athlete)

Lou Jones (athlete)

Personal information
Born	January 15, 1932
Medal record Men's athletics Competitor for the United States Olympic Games Gold 1956 Melbourne 4x400 metres relay Pan American Games Gold 1955 Mexico City 400 metres Gold 1955 Mexico City 4×400 metres relay

Louis "Lou" Woodard Jones (January 15, 1932 – February 3, 2006) is an American former athlete, winner of the gold medal in the 4x400 m relay at the 1956 Summer Olympics.

Born in New Rochelle, New York, Lou Jones won the 400 m at the 1955 Pan-American Games, where he set a new world record of 45.4. He was also a member of the gold medal winning American 4x400 m relay team.

Just four months before the Melbourne Olympics, Jones broke his own 400 m world record, clocking 45.2 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in the US Olympic Trials, thus becoming a main favourite at this event in Melbourne.

But in the Olympic 400 m final, Jones was off form, and managed to finish only in a disappointing fifth place, 1.50 seconds behind teammate Charles Jenkins. A few days later, Jones partly compensated for his disappointment, running the second leg in the gold medal winning American 4x400 m relay team.

Jones graduated from Manhattan College in 1954.

References

• sports-reference.com
• "Olympic gold medallist Louis Jones of New Rochelle dies" Westchester Journal News 7 February 2005