Marlon Devonish

Marlon Devonish

Personal information
Nationality	England  Great Britain
Born	1 June 1976 (1976-06-01) (age 35) Coventry, England
Height	180 cm (5 ft 11 in)
Weight	72 kg (160 lb)
Sport
Sport	Running
Event(s)	100 metres, 200 metres
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)	100m: 10.06 s (Lausanne 2007) 200m: 20.19 s (Manchester 2002)
Medal record Men’s Athletics Competitor for  Great Britain Olympic Games Gold 2004 Athens 4x100 m relay World Championships Silver 1999 Sevilla 4x100 m relay Bronze 2005 Helsinki 4x100 m relay Bronze 2007 Osaka 4x100 m relay Bronze 2009 Berlin 4x100 m relay European Championships Gold 2006 Gothenburg 4 x 100 m Bronze 2002 Munich 200 m Bronze 2006 Gothenburg 200 m World Indoor Championships Gold 2003 Birmingham 200 m Competitor for  England Commonwealth Games Gold 1998 Kuala Lumpur 4 x 100 m Gold 2002 Manchester 4 x 100 m Silver 2002 Manchester 200 m Gold 2010 Delhi 4 x 100 m

Devonish (right) in the starting blocks before the 150 metres race at the Manchester City Games.

Marlon Ronald Devonish, MBE (born 1 June 1976) is an English sprint athlete.^[1]

He is a member of the Coventry Godiva Harriers athletics club and is coached by Tony Lester. Early in his career he was successful at both 100 and 200 metre distances, winning English Schools and European Junior titles at both, but in recent years he has concentrated mostly on the longer distance. He has also been a regular member of both the British and, at the Commonwealth Games, English 4 x 100 metre sprint relay teams, to some considerable success. He is a current Commonwealth Games record holder in the relay event.

The most notable achievement of his career to date came at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. There Devonish, along with Jason Gardener, Darren Campbell and Mark Lewis-Francis, won a gold medal in the 4 x 100 m. relay, where the quartet defeated the pre-race favourites, United States team, by just 0.01 seconds, in a season's best of 38.07.

At the British Championships (and team trials for the 2006 European Championships) in July 2006, Devonish became the first man since Linford Christie in 1988 to win both the 100 m and 200 m races at the event.^[2] At the championship finals, he took the bronze medal in the 200 m.

Devonish retained his 100 m title at the British Championships the following year. For the 2007 season Devonish improved his performance in the 100 m with a new personal best and competed in this event at the 2007 World Championships in Osaka rather than the 200 m which he had previously specialised in. Devonish finished 6th in the 100 m final.

Devonish represented Great Britain at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. He competed at the 4x100 metres relay together with Simeon Williamson, Tyrone Edgar and Craig Pickering. In their qualification heat they were disqualified and eliminated.^[1] He also took part in the 200 metres individual, finishing first with a time of 20.49 seconds in his first round heat. With 20.43 seconds in his second round he only placed fourth in his heat, but his time was among the four best losing times and enough to qualify for the semi finals. There he came to 20.57 seconds and the seventh time in his race, which was not enough for the final.^[1]

He competed at the 2009 Manchester City Games, finishing second in the 150 metres final in 15.07 seconds. He was beaten by Usain Bolt who ran a world best-beating time.^[3]

On 22 August 2009, Devonish was a member of the Great Britain and Northern Ireland men’s 4x100m relay team team that took bronze at the IAAF World Championships in Berlin with a season’s best of 38.02. Harry Aikines-Aryeetey, Simeon Williamson and Tyrone Edgar ran the other legs.

Achievements

Competition record

Year	Competition	Venue	Event	Place
1995	European Junior Championships	Nyiregyhaza, Hungary	100 m	1st
			200 m	1st
1997	European U23 Championships	Turku, Finland	100 m	3rd
1998	Commonwealth Games	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	4 x 100 m relay	1st
1999	European Cup	Paris, France	4 x 100 m relay	1st
	World Championships	Seville, Spain	4 x 100 m relay	2nd
2002	Commonwealth Games	Manchester, England	200 m	2nd
			4 x 100 m relay	1st
	European Championships	Munich, Germany	200 m	3rd
2003	World Indoor Championships	Birmingham, England	200 m	1st
2004	Summer Olympics	Athens, Greece	4 x 100 m relay	1st
2005	World Championships	Helsinki, Finland	4x100 m relay	3rd
2006	European Athletics Championships	Gothenburg, Sweden	200 m	3rd
			4x100 m relay	1st
2007	World Championships	Osaka, Japan	4x100 m relay	3rd

Personal bests

Distance	Time	Wind	Location	Date
100m	10.06 sec	+ 1.3 mps	Lausanne	10 July 2007
200m	20.19 sec	+ 1.4 mps	Manchester	29 July 2002

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} Athlete biography: Marlon Devonish, beijing2008.cn, ret: 29 August 2008
2. ^ Devonish storms to sprint double. BBC Sport (2006-07-16). Retrieved on 2009-05-13.
3. ^ Superb Bolt storms to 150m record. BBC Sport (2009-05-17). Retrieved on 2009-05-17.

External links

• IAAF profile for Marlon Devonish
• 'Marlon hails sprint revival' - BBC.co.uk, 29 August 2004

Persondata
Name	Devonish, Marlon
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1 June 1976
Place of birth	Coventry, England
Date of death
Place of death