John Paul Jones was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 track

Track and field

Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...

 athlete who set several world records in the mile

World record progression for the mile run

The world record in the mile run is the best mark set by a male or female runner in the middle-distance track and field event. The IAAF is the official body which oversees the records. Hicham El Guerrouj is the current men's record holder with his time of 3:43.13 minutes, while Svetlana Masterkova...

, including the first mile record to be ratified by the International Association of Athletics Federations

International Association of Athletics Federations

The International Association of Athletics Federations is the international governing body for the sport of athletics. It was founded in 1912 at its first congress in Stockholm, Sweden by representatives from 17 national athletics federations as the International Amateur Athletics Federation...

 in 1913.

Biography

He was born on October 15, 1890 in Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

Jones entered Cornell University

Cornell University

Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...

 in 1909, majoring in mechanical engineering

Mechanical engineering

Mechanical engineering is a discipline of engineering that applies the principles of physics and materials science for analysis, design, manufacturing, and maintenance of mechanical systems. It is the branch of engineering that involves the production and usage of heat and mechanical power for the...

. He showed little initial promise in track, not making the team until his last year and not impressing until his last race. An extremely popular and handsome man, Jones worked long hours on his studies, played basketball

Basketball

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

 and tennis

Tennis

Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...

 in the summer and ran as a pastime. As a senior, he was selected for membership in the Quill and Dagger

Quill and Dagger

Quill and Dagger is a senior honor society at Cornell University. It is often recognized as one of the most prominent collegiate societies of its type, along with Skull and Bones of Yale University...

 society.

But he worked and trained hard as a runner and had the most successful coach of the era, Jack Moakley. Initially a cross country

Cross country running

Cross country running is a sport in which people run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road...

 runner, he won the freshman intercollegiate championships easily and in the fall of his second year won the IC4A

IC4A

IC4A or ICAAAA is an annual men's competition held at different colleges every year....

 cross country championship.

On May 27, 1911, Jones ran in the IC4A

IC4A

IC4A or ICAAAA is an annual men's competition held at different colleges every year....

 championships at the Soldiers Field Soccer Stadium

Soldiers Field Soccer Stadium

Soldiers Field Soccer Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium located on the campus of Harvard University in the Allston neighborhood of Boston. It opened in September 2010 and replaced Ohiri Field as the primary home of the Harvard Crimson men's and women's soccer teams...

 in Allston, Massachusetts in front of 12,000 spectators. Entered in the mile, Boyle of Penn State led at the quarter in 59 2/5 followed by his teammate Wilton Paull. Jones hung back in fifth place. Hanavan of Michigan State led at the half-mile mark with a 2:08 1/5, with Paull in second and Jones in third. Paull grabbed the lead at 1,000 yards, but Hanavan regained it for a lap. Then, Jones lengthened his stride and passed Paull and Hanavan, winning by 10 yards. His time: 4:15 2/5, a new amateur world record, finally surpassing Thomas Conneff

Thomas Conneff

Thomas Conneff was an amateur American runner who held the amateur record for the fastest mile from 1895 to 1911.He was an Irish-born runner who emigrated to the United States in 1888 and generally specialized in longer distances, winning the national 10-mile championship four years in a row...

's 4:15 3/5 set 16 years earlier. However the time was inferior to the professional record of 4:12 3/4 set by Walter George

Walter George (athlete)

Walter Goodall George was a nineteenth century British runner from Calne who after setting numerous world records as an amateur, went professional in part to challenge the mile record-holder William Cummings, defeating him in several highly publicized races...

 in 1886.

Jones was not done for the day. He additionally ran and won the 880 yards to give Cornell the IC4A championship.

He spent the summer playing baseball and tennis, won the IC4A cross country championship again in the fall, then tied for first in the mile with a 4:20 3/5 at the 1912 IC4A. He won the 880 in a collegiate record time of 1:53 4/5.

1912 Olympics

He had no desire to compete in the Olympics, but was talked into it and made the ship shortly before it departed for Stockholm

Stockholm

Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...

.

The 1912 Olympic

1912 Summer Olympics

The 1912 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the V Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Stockholm, Sweden, between 5 May and 27 July 1912. Twenty-eight nations and 2,407 competitors, including 48 women, competed in 102 events in 14 sports...

 1500 metre competition

Athletics at the 1912 Summer Olympics - Men's 1500 metres

The men's 1500 metres was a track and field athletics event held as part of the athletics at the 1912 Summer Olympics programme. It was the fifth appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics...

 featured the greatest field of mile/1500 m runners ever assembled to that point. Besides Jones, the 1908 Olympic

1908 Summer Olympics

The 1908 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the IV Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was held in 1908 in London, England, United Kingdom. These games were originally scheduled to be held in Rome. At the time they were the fifth modern Olympic games...

 champion Mel Sheppard

Mel Sheppard

Melvin Whinfield "Peerless Mel" Sheppard was an American athlete, member of the Irish American Athletic Club and winner of four gold medals at the 1908 Summer Olympics and 1912 Summer Olympics...

 was entered, as was the speedy Arnold Jackson

Arnold Jackson

Brigadier-General Arnold Nugent Strode Strode-Jackson CBE DSO & Three Bars was a British athlete, British Army officer, and a barrister. He was the winner of the 1500m at the 1912 Summer Olympics, in what was hailed at the time as "the greatest race ever run"...

 of Britain

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name of the United Kingdom during the period when what is now the Republic of Ireland formed a part of it....

, and the promising miler Norman Taber

Norman Taber

Norman Stephen Taber was an American middle distance runner. He was the first amateur runner to surpass Walter George's professional record in the mile, set nearly 30 years previously...

 from Providence

Providence, Rhode Island

Providence is the capital and most populous city of Rhode Island and was one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the third largest city in the New England region...

, Rhode Island

Rhode Island

The state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area...

. Additionally, American Abel Kiviat

Abel Kiviat

Abel Richard Kiviat was an American middle distance track event middle distance runner.-Career:...

, who held the world record in the 1500 m, was in the field.

Jones was not as prepared as he could have been as he couldn't train on the ship across the Atlantic, so Kiviat, who had set his 1500 m record of 3:55 4/5 only on 26 May of that year, barely missing Jones' mile record in the process, was favoured.

In the end, Jackson prevailed in the final, held 10 July, with Kiviat and Taber so close an official camera needed to be consulted to determine who won silver. Jones finished fourth. He also participated in the 800 metres event

Athletics at the 1912 Summer Olympics - Men's 800 metres

The men's 800 metres was a track and field athletics event held as part of the athletics at the 1912 Summer Olympics programme. It was the fifth appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. The competition was held from Saturday, July 6,...

 but he was eliminated in the first round. At the same Olympics he competed in the baseball event

Baseball at the 1912 Summer Olympics

Baseball had its first appearance at the 1912 Summer Olympics as an exhibition sport. A game was played between the United States, the nation where the game was developed, and Sweden, the host nation. The game was held on Monday, 15 July 1912 and started at 10 a.m...

 which was held as demonstration sport

Demonstration sport

A demonstration sport is a sport which is played to promote itself, most commonly during the Olympic Games, but also at other sporting events.Demonstration sports were officially introduced in 1912 Summer Olympics, when Sweden decided to include glima, traditional Icelandic wrestling, in the...

.

Jones, out of the medals, won his third IC4A cross country championship that fall, then ran an indoor mile in 4:19 4/5 early in 1913 in Ann Arbor, Michigan

Michigan

Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....

.

Second mile record

On 31 May, Jones ran again in the IC4A championships in Cambridge, and was up against Olympic 1,500 m silver medalist Taber in the mile.

Taber led at the first three quarters, in 61.6, 2:09.3 and 3:16.1. But Jones launched into his drive as the bell for the final lap sounded and Taber couldn't respond. He crossed the finish line in 4:14 2/5, a new world amateur record, and the first mile record to be recognized by the new governing body of track and field, the IAAF, known then as the International Amateur Athletics Federation.

Jones subsequently lost his next race, the 880, and this proved to be his final race. He graduated from college and retired from the sport.