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Michellie Jones

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Michellie Jones
Jones in 2016
Personal information
Born (1969-09-06) 6 September 1969 (age 55)
Fairfield, New South Wales, Australia
Height180 cm (5 ft 11 in)
Weight60 kg (9 st 6 lb; 132 lb)
Sport
CountryAustralia
SportTriathlon
Medal record
Representing  Australia
Olympic Games
Silver medal – second place 2000 Sydney Individual
Paralympic Games
Gold medal – first place 2016 Rio de Janeiro PT5 guide
ITU World Championships
Gold medal – first place 1992 Huntsville Elite
Gold medal – first place 1993 Manchester Elite
Silver medal – second place 1998 Lausanne Elite
Silver medal – second place 2001 Edmonton Elite
Bronze medal – third place 1991 Queensland Elite
Bronze medal – third place 1997 Perth Elite
Bronze medal – third place 2000 Perth Elite
Bronze medal – third place 2003 Queenstown Elite
Gold medal – first place 2015 Chicago PT5 guide
ITU World Cup
Gold medal – first place 1998 Overall
Gold medal – first place 2000 Overall
Bronze medal – third place 1993 Overall
Ironman World Championship
Gold medal – first place 2006 Individual
Silver medal – second place 2005 Individual
Kelly and Jones at the 2016 Paralympics

Michellie Yvonne Jones AM (/mɪˈkiːli/ mi-KEE-lee; born 6 September 1969) is an Australian triathlete. She has won two ITU Triathlon World Championships, an Olympic silver medal,[1] and the 2006 Ironman World Championship.[2] She won a gold medal at the 2016 Summer Paralympics as a guide for Katie Kelly, when paratriathlon made its debut at the Paralympics.[3]

Personal life

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Jones currently lives in Carlsbad, California.[4] She is a graduate from the University of Wollongong with a Diploma of Teaching in Primary Education in 1990.[5] She has a twin sister, Gabrielle Jones.[4]

Athletic career

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Jones started competing in triathlons in 1990. In 1992 and 1993 she won the ITU Triathlon World Championships.[1] In 1996, she won the inaugural XTERRA Triathlon World Championships. Jones would go on to further expand her triathlon résumé by winning the ITU Triathlon World Cup in 1998 and 1999.[6] At the 2000 Summer Olympics Jones took the silver medal in the inaugural triathlon event with a total time of 2:00:42.55, only two seconds behind gold medalist Brigitte McMahon. Her split times were 19:43.88 for the swim, 1:05:32.90 for the cycling and 0:35:25.77 for the run.[1]

After recently expanding into Iron distance competition, Jones took second place in the 2005 Ironman World Championship, losing the lead during the run to Natascha Badmann.[7] This was only the second time that she competed in an iron distance triathlon. Later she won the 2006 Ironman Arizona Triathlon, finishing with a time of 9:12:53, and the Ironman Triathlon in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii in 9:18:31.[2] With this victory, Jones became the first Australian woman to win a World Ironman Championship and it made her the second Australian in history to win the event, behind 1994 Men's World Champion, Greg Welch.

In May 2015, it was confirmed that Jones would be Australian paratriathlete Katie Kelly's new guide in the lead up to the 2016 Summer Paralympics. With Jones, she won the World Paratriathlon Event held in Yokohama, Japan on 16 May 2015.[8] Kelly with guide Jones won their first World Championship title after a come-from-behind victory at the 2015 World Championships Final in Chicago.[9] At the 2016 Rio Paralympics, Jones was the guide for Kelly when they won the gold medal in the Women's PT5 event.[10]

Jones reflects on her medal win with Kelly stating: "This is so much better because when I think of everything KK (Katie Kelly) has been through and to be able of doing everything she’s done in such short amount of time,” she said. “To me this is the best thing that I’ve ever done.”[11] Jones expresses further explaining "Disability doesn't define you, it's what you do with it that does"[12] She was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 2017.[13]

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Michellie Jones". Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 24 September 2010.
  2. ^ a b Staton, Ron (21 October 2006). "Stadler Wins Ironman Triathlon". The Washington Post. Retrieved 24 September 2010.
  3. ^ "Women - PT5". rio2016.com. Archived from the original on 22 September 2016. Retrieved 12 September 2016.
  4. ^ a b "Q&A with Michellie "MJ" Jones". GUenergy.com. Archived from the original on 30 October 2010. Retrieved 24 September 2010.
  5. ^ "Outlook" (PDF). University of Wollongong. December 2000. Retrieved 24 September 2010.
  6. ^ "20yrs of ITU: World Cup Success". International Triathlon Union. 14 April 2009. Retrieved 24 September 2010.
  7. ^ Woodman, Jim. "2005 Ford Ironman World Championship Al-Sultan and Badmann take 2005 Honors". Active.com. Archived from the original on 26 July 2011. Retrieved 24 September 2010.
  8. ^ Connery, Georgina. "Katie Kelly's rapid course to Rio 2016 Paralympics". Canberra Times. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
  9. ^ White, Chelsea (18 September 2015). "Australia awesome at Paratriathlon World Championships". International Triathlon Union News. Retrieved 18 September 2015.
  10. ^ Spits, Scott (12 September 2016). "An unbreakable bond: Katie Kelly and guide Michellie Jones win triathlon gold at the Rio Paralympics". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 12 September 2016.
  11. ^ Sport, Guardian (11 September 2016). "Paralympian Katie Kelly wins gold for Australia in Rio triathlon". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 September 2016.
  12. ^ "Kelly wins para-triathlon gold alongside Michellie Jones". Rio 2016. Rio 2016 Paralympics. Retrieved 18 September 2016.
  13. ^ "AM Final Media Notes (A-L)" (PDF). Governor General of Australia. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 March 2019. Retrieved 26 January 2017.
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