Marlon Devonish

Marlon Ronald Devonish, MBE (born 1 June 1976) is an English former sprinter who competed in the 100 metres and 200 metres.[1] A prodigious relay runner with particular strength as a 'bend' runner, Devonish ran the third leg for the Great Britain quartet which won the 4 x 100 metres at the 2004 Olympic Games, and won four World Championship medals in the same event in 1999, 2005, 2007 and 2009.

Marlon Devonish
MBE
Devonish at the 2005 World Championships in Helsinki
Personal information
Nationality England
 Great Britain
Born (1976-06-01) 1 June 1976
Coventry, England
Height180 cm (5 ft 11 in)
Weight72 kg (159 lb)
Sport
SportRunning
Event(s)100 metres, 200 metres
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)100m: 10.06 s (Lausanne 2007)

150m: 14.87 s (Manchester 2011)

200m: 20.19 s (Manchester 2002)
Medal record
Men's athletics
Representing  Great Britain
Olympic Games
2004 Athens4x100 m relay
World Championships
1999 Sevilla4×100 m relay
2005 Helsinki4×100 m relay
2007 Osaka4×100 m relay
2009 Berlin4×100 m relay
European Championships
2006 Gothenburg4×100 m relay
2002 Munich200 m
2006 Gothenburg200 m
World Indoor Championships
2003 Birmingham200 m
Representing  England
Commonwealth Games
1998 Kuala Lumpur4×100 m relay
2002 Manchester4×100 m relay
2010 Delhi4×100 m relay
2002 Manchester200 m
Devonish (right) in the starting blocks before the 150 metres race at the Manchester City Games.

Early life

Devonish attended Caludon Castle School in Coventry.[2]

Career

He is a member of the Coventry Godiva Harriers athletics club and was 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 later years he concentrated mostly on the longer distance. He was also 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 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.[3]

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.[4] 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.[5]

On 22 August 2009, Devonish was a member of the Great Britain and Northern Ireland men's 4x100m relay 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.

Post-athletics

On 16 July 2013, Devonish was bought in as sprint coach for Gloucester Rugby at Kingsholm Stadium, Gloucester.[6]

On 8 January 2018, Devonish started working for the British International School Shanghai located in Puxi, Shanghai, China as their elite athlete performance coach in residence.

International competition record
YearCompetitionVenuePositionEventNotes
Representing  Great Britain and  England
1994 World Junior Championships Lisbon, Portugal 1st (h)[7] 4 × 100m relay 39.92
1995 European Junior Championships Nyíregyháza, Hungary 1st 200 m 21.04
1st 4 × 100m relay 39.43
1996 European Indoor Championships Stockholm, Sweden 11th (sf) 200 m 21.86
1997 European U23 Championships Turku, Finland 3rd 100 m 10.32 w (+2.8 m/s)
1st 4 × 100 m relay 38.99
World Championships Athens, Greece 35th (qf) 100 m 10.37
6th (h) 4 × 100 m relay 38.47
1998 European Championships Budapest, Hungary 5th 100 m 10.24
1st (h) 4 × 100 m relay 38.47
Commonwealth Games Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 8th 100 m 10.22
1st 4 × 100 m relay 38.20
World Cup Johannesburg, South Africa 1st 4 × 100 m relay 38.09
1999 European Cup Paris, France 1st 4 × 100 m relay 38.16
World Championships Seville, Spain 7th (sf) 200 m 20.25
2nd 4 × 100 m relay 37.73
2000 Olympic Games Sydney, Australia 27th (sf) 200 m 20.82
– 4 × 100 m relay DQ
2001 World Championships Edmonton, Canada 8th 200 m 20.38
– 4 × 100 m relay DNF
Goodwill Games Brisbane, Australia 4th 200 m 20.74
1st 4 × 100 m relay 38.71
2002 Commonwealth Games Manchester, United Kingdom 2nd 200 m 20.19
1st 4 × 100 m relay 38.62
European Championships Munich, Germany 3rd 200 m 20.24
– 4 × 100 m relay DQ
World Cup Madrid, Spain 3rd 200 m relay 20.32
6th 4 × 100 m relay 39.23
2003 World Indoor Championships Birmingham, United Kingdom 1st 200 m 20.62
World Championships Paris, France – 4 × 100 m relay DQ
2004 Olympic Games Athens, Greece 1st 4 × 100 m relay 38.07
2005 World Championships Helsinki, Finland 14th (sf) 100 m 10.24
12th (sf) 200 m 20.93
3rd 4 × 100 m relay 38.27
2006 Commonwealth Games Melbourne, Australia 8th 100 m 10.30
12th (sf) 200 m 20.93
– 4 × 100 m relay DNF
4th 4 × 400 m relay 3:02.01
European Championships Gothenburg, Sweden 3rd 200 m 20.54
1st 4 × 100 m relay 38.91
World Cup Athens, Greece 2nd 4 × 100 m relay 38.451
2007 World Championships Osaka, Japan 6th 100 m 10.14
3rd 4 × 100 m relay 37.90
2008 Olympic Games Beijing, China 13th (sf) 200 m 20.57
1st 4 × 100 m relay DQ
2009 World Championships Berlin, Germany 12th (sf) 200 m 20.62
3rd 4 × 100 m relay 38.02
2010 European Championships Barcelona, Spain 4th 200 m 20.62
9th (h) 4 × 100 m relay 39.49
Commonwealth Games Delhi, India 5th 200 m 20.75
1st 4 × 100 m relay 38.74
2011 World Championships Daegu, South Korea 16th (sf) 100 m 10.25
4th (h) 4 × 100 m relay 38.292

1Representing Europe
2Did not finish in the final

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

References
  1. Athlete biography: Marlon Devonish Archived 10 September 2008 at the Wayback Machine, beijing2008.cn, ret: 29 August 2008
  2. Clemons, Pete (16 February 2016). "Caludon Castle School's music heritage stretches far and wide". Coventry Telegraph. Trinity Mirror. Retrieved 14 August 2016.
  3. Rob Bagchi (22 February 2012). "50 stunning Olympic moments No15: Great Britain's 2004 relay victory". The Guardian.
  4. Devonish storms to sprint double. BBC Sport (16 July 2006). Retrieved on 13 May 2009.
  5. Superb Bolt storms to 150m record. BBC Sport (17 May 2009). Retrieved on 17 May 2009.
  6. "Marlon Devonish: Olympic athlete to train Gloucester squad". BBC News. 16 July 2013. Retrieved 16 July 2013.
  7. Competed only in the heat.
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