| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | British (English) |
| Born | (1975-09-18)18 September 1975 (age 50) Bath, England |
| Height | 176 cm (5 ft 9 in) |
| Weight | 75 kg (165 lb) |
| Sport | |
| Sport | Athletics |
Event | Sprints |
| Club | Wessex and Bath AC |
Medal record | |
Jason Carl Gardener,MBE (born 18 September 1975) is a retired Britishsprint athlete. A fast starter from the blocks, he won an Olympic gold medal leading off Great Britain in the 4 × 100 metres relay at the2004 Olympic Games, and is also the2004 World Indoor Champion, and a four-time European Indoor champion, at 60 metres.
Gardener was born inBath, Somerset to a Jamaican father and British mother. He was educated at Moorlands Primary School,Beechen Cliff School and theCity of Bath College. He later graduated fromBath Spa University.[1]
Gardener started his career at theWorld Junior Championships in 1994, where he was placed second in the individual 100 m and bettered this to take his first gold medal as part of the 4 × 100 mrelay team. Joining the senior ranks, and coached byMalcolm Arnold for his entire career, Gardener took another silver in the 60 m, at the European Indoor Championships of 1998. He was not chosen for the relay team, which took gold.
In 1999 he took bronze at theWorld indoors in the 60 m, breaking the British record. and later that year saw him run 9.98 s breaking the 10 second barrier for the first time in the 100 m. He was also part of the national record breaking 4 × 100 m relay team along withDarren Campbell,Marlon Devonish, andDwain Chambers that they set inSeville, Spain running 37.73 seconds.
2000 saw Gardener go one better in the European indoor 60 m taking gold as well as breaking the national 50 m record with a time of 5.61 s. Unfortunately he became injured during the summer and although making it to Sydney for theOlympics he did not progress through the early rounds.
He retained his European indoor title in 2002 as well as a 4 × 100 mCommonwealth Games gold medal. 2003 saw another World indoors bronze despite being hampered by ahamstring injury but the following year he bettered this to take the gold, his first world individual title ahead of the fanciedShawn Crawford of the US.
Gardener made the squad for the2004 Summer Olympics where he competed in the 100 m and won the gold medal in the 4 × 100 m relay withDarren Campbell,Marlon Devonish andMark Lewis-Francis in a 38.07 s, their season's best and a narrow upset win over the United States.[2]
In March 2007, Gardener won his fourth European Indoor 60 m gold after fears that he may have to miss defending his title as his wife, Nancy, was due to give birth. Gardener's last professional race was a 4 × 100 m relay at the London Grand Prix atCrystal Palace on 3 August 2007. His team failed to finish this race.
Gardener was a four-timesBritish 100 metres champion after winning the BritishAAA Championships title in 1997, 1999, 2004 and 2005.[3][4]
On 17 October 2013, it was announced that Gardener would take part in the 100 m Sprint for Faith organised by the Pontifical Council for Culture and the Italian Sports Centre, as part of theCatholic Church'sYear of Faith.[5]
In 2017 he became a Honorary Doctor of Laws at theUniversity of Bath.[citation needed]
| Date | Event | Venue | Time (seconds) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16 February 2000 | 50 metres | Madrid, Spain | 5.61 |
| 7 March 1999 | 60 metres | Maebashi, Gunma, Japan | 6.46 |
| 2 July 1999 | 100 metres | Lausanne, Switzerland | 9.98 |
| 11 July 1999 | 200 metres | Ingolstadt, Germany | 20.65 |
Gardener has also won four senior national titles indoors and two outdoors.
In 2008 Jason took part in a project to qualify four athletes from diverse sports in the British 2 Man Bobsleigh Championships, after just two weeks of training. Along with World Champion track cyclistCraig MacLean, Rugby World Cup winnerDan Luger and Commonwealth Decathlon championDean Macey, he attempted to complete two runs down the course atCesana Pariol in Italy (site of the2006 Winter Olympics) to gain qualification to the finals. Selected as pusher for driver Macey, he succeeded in finishing in sixth place overall, as well as being the highest placed novice pair. The story was filmed for the BBC and broadcast in February 2009.[7] Jason declined an offer to try and qualify for the next Winter Olympics in 2010.
