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Jim Peters

Personal information
Full name	James Henry Peters
Nationality	English
Born	(1918-10-24)24 October 1918 Hackney, London, England
Died	9 January 1999(1999-01-09) (aged 80) Thorpe Bay, Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England
Sport
Sport	Running
Event	Marathon
Club	Essex Beagles
Medal record Athletics Representing  England British Empire & Commonwealth Games 1954 Vancouver 6 miles

James Henry Peters (24 October 1918 in Hackney, London – 9 January 1999 in Thorpe Bay, Essex) was a long-distance runner from England. He broke the world record for the men's marathon four times in the 1950s. He was the first runner to complete a marathon in under 2 hours 20 minutes – an achievement which was equated to the breaking of the four-minute mile. He achieved this at the Polytechnic Marathon of 1953, a point-to-point race from Windsor to Chiswick, West London. Later the same year, Peters set the first sub-2:20, clocking on an out-and-back course at the Enschede Marathon in the Netherlands.

At the 1954 Vancouver Commonwealth Games, he reached the stadium in first place, 17 minutes ahead of the next runner and 10 minutes ahead of the record, but he collapsed repeatedly and failed to finish. After covering just 200 metres in 11 minutes, he was stretchered away and never raced again. "I was lucky not to have died that day", he later said. His games kit, including plimsolls and the special medal which following the games the Duke of Edinburgh sent to Jim inscribed "To a most gallant marathon runner." were given to the Sports Hall of Fame, Vancouver, in 1967 for exhibition.

He served as president of the then recently formed Road Runners Club from 1955–1956. After retiring from competitive athletics, Peters worked as an optician in Mitcham, Surrey, and Chadwell Heath, Essex.

Achievements

Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Event	Notes
Representing  United Kingdom
1948	Olympic Games	London, United Kingdom	8th	10,000 metres	31:16.0
1952	Polytechnic Marathon	Windsor, Berkshire, United Kingdom	1st	Marathon	2:20:42.2 WR
1952	Olympic Games	Helsinki, Finland	—	Marathon	DNF
1953	Polytechnic Marathon	Windsor, Berkshire, United Kingdom	1st	Marathon	2:18:40.2 WR
1953	Enschede Marathon	Enschede, Netherlands	1st	Marathon	2:19:22
1954	Polytechnic Marathon	Windsor, Berkshire, United Kingdom	1st	Marathon	2:17:39.4 WR

References

1. Keating, Frank (7 January 2007). "'Two steps forward, three to the side. Oh, he's down again'". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712. Retrieved 18 February 2024.

External links

• Sporting Heroes
• Jim Peters at Olympics at Sports-Reference.com (archived)
• Jim Peters at Olympics.com
• Frank Keating, The Guardian

Records
Preceded by Suh Yun-Bok	Men's Marathon World Record Holder 14 June 1952 – 24 August 1958	Succeeded by Sergei Popov

• 1918 births
• 1999 deaths
• Athletes from the London Borough of Hackney
• English male marathon runners
• British male marathon runners
• Olympic athletes for Great Britain
• Athletes (track and field) at the 1948 Summer Olympics
• Athletes (track and field) at the 1952 Summer Olympics
• Athletes (track and field) at the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games
• World record setters in athletics (track and field)
• Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics
• Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for England
• Medallists at the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games
• 20th-century English sportsmen