Jerry Cornes

Jerry Cornes (actually John Frederic Cornes, born March 23, 1910 in Darjeeling, India, † 19 June 2001) was a British middle-distance runner, who was successful in the early 1930s and won three bronze medals in international competitions.

Jerry Cornes started for the University of Oxford and the Achilles Club. He was 1.82 m tall and 70 kg.

Education and work

The son of a judge of the Indian Civil Service attended Clifton College and Corpus Christi College, Oxford. In 1932, he joined his father in the service of the Civil Service. His path led him first for five years after Nigeria and thereafter for a further ten years to Palestine. From 1947 to 1953 he worked for the Colonial Office in Oxford as an instructor. He then took over the management of the West Downs School in Winchester, where he taught until 1988, History, Latin and religion.

Sports career

Jerry Cornes entered as a pupil at Clifton and Oxford first as cross-country runners in appearance. His special line was then but the mile. Over this distance, he took up in the traditional high school compared Oxford, Cambridge, where he was a total of five times victorious:

At the British National Championships, he took a total of four times in some of the mile. There he won by the runner-up in 1930 in 1932 and the title was 1934 and 1936 finalist.

At international level, he was successful.

• In 1931, in a country comparison UK - Germany he made as a member of 4x1500m relay set a world record.
• He started twice at the British Empire Games, the forerunner of the Commonwealth Games. Both in 1930 in Hamilton and in London in 1934, he finished in third place. In Hamilton 's time was not determined. In London, only the winning New Zealander Jack Lovelock was stopped ( gold in 4:12,8 min) and the times of runners Sydney Wooderson and Jerry Cornes, the gaps on 4:13,4 4:13,6 min or Min appreciated.
• In Olympic Games, he also went twice to the start. 1932 in Los Angeles, he was more than 1500 m of its forward travel in Second 4:01,0 min - a time that would not put him in the other two heats. In the final, but he was on his runs generic class no doubt. Excellent 3:52,6 min showed the clock for him, and was faster on that day only the Italian Luigi Beccali, who set a new Olympic record in 3:51,2 min. Jerry Cornes won the silver medal just ahead of Canadian Phil Edwards ( bronze in 3:52,8 minutes). Four years later at the 1936 Games in Berlin, he again tried his luck. This time he finished his heat in second ( 4:00,6 minutes). Then followed in the final the fastest 1500 -meter race in history. Both the winner John Lovelock ( gold in 3:47,8 min ) and the second-placed Glenn Cunningham (Silver 3; 48.4 min) remained below the existing world record, and even the following three runners were faster than the winner of Los Angeles. In its wake Jerry Cornes presented with 3:51,4 minutes on a new personal best, which brought him in 6th place.

Even after his international career, Jerry Cornes joined occasionally on at competitions. In 1949 he was among the finalists of the Southern Counties Championship in cross-country running.

Family

Jerry Cornes was married to Rachael Addis; the couple was able to celebrate its sixtieth anniversary in 1997. Of their four sons were born: Nick, Colin, John ( all born in Palestine) and Andrew.