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
Height	180 cm (5 ft 11 in)
Weight	72 kg (159 lb)
Sport
Sport	Running
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 Athens 4x100 m relay World Championships 1999 Sevilla 4×100 m relay 2005 Helsinki 4×100 m relay 2007 Osaka 4×100 m relay 2009 Berlin 4×100 m relay European Championships 2006 Gothenburg 4×100 m relay 2002 Munich 200 m 2006 Gothenburg 200 m World Indoor Championships 2003 Birmingham 200 m Representing  England Commonwealth Games 1998 Kuala Lumpur 4×100 m relay 2002 Manchester 4×100 m relay 2010 Delhi 4×100 m relay 2002 Manchester 200 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

Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Event	Notes
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	38.45^1
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	38.29^2

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.

External links

• Marlon Devonish at World Athletics
• 'Marlon hails sprint revival' – BBC.co.uk, 29 August 2004