Lynn Jennings

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Lynn Jennings
Medal record
Representing the  United States
Olympic Games
Bronze medal – third place 1992 Barcelona 10,000 metres
World Cross Country Championships
Gold medal – first place 1990 Aix-les-Bains Women's race
Gold medal – first place 1991 Antwerp Women's race
Gold medal – first place 1992 Boston Women's race

Lynn Alice Jennings (born July 1, 1960 in Princeton, New Jersey) is a retired American long-distance runner. She is one of the best female American runners of all time, with a range from 1500 meters to the marathon. She excelled at all three of the sport's major disciplines: track, road, and cross country. She won the bronze in the Women's 10,000 metres at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. She set a world indoor record in the 5000 meter run in 1990.

She is a nine-time champion of the USA Cross Country Championships and won the IAAF World Cross Country Championships three times consecutively from 1990 to 1992. Only two other women (Norway's Grete Waitz and Kenya's Edith Masai) have achieved this feat.

Career

Jennings attended the Bromfield school in Harvard, Massachusetts. She ran on the boys' cross country team, as there was no girls' team at the time. Her years as a high school state champion in cross country are reminiscent of an early scene in the film Without Limits, about Steve Prefontaine, in which Prefontaine shoots out to a determined lead very early in a high school race and is good enough to keep the lead to the finish. Jennings won the U.S. National Cross Country Championship nine times. She ran the Boston Marathon unofficially in 1978 and finished in 2:46, a time which would have placed third in the open women's division and a record for her age group [1]'. Graduating in Harvard, MA, in 1978, she left behind countless records, including the national high school indoor 1500-meters run.[1]

Jennings attended Princeton University. Despite numerous college running titles, she left the university "unsatisified" with her performance. She failed to qualify for the 1984 Olympics,[1] but was the bronze medalist at 10,000 meters in the 1992 Summer Olympics, held in Barcelona, Spain. Her time of 31:19.89 was a new American record, and it lasted until May 3, 2002, when it was broken by Deena Kastor in Palo Alto, California.

She won the World Cross Country Championships in 1990, 1991, and 1992. The 1992 race was held at Franklin Park in Boston, on some of the same trails where she had won several Massachusetts state high school championships. She won consecutive 3000 m medals at the IAAF World Indoor Championships, taking bronze in 1993 then silver in 1995. Outdoors she had fifth-place finishes over 10,000 metres in both the 1991 and 1993 World Championships. She was also a nine-time U.S. Outdoor champion.

In 1999, approaching age 39, she ran officially in the Boston Marathon in 2:38. She later ran for Nike's Athletics West team.

Jennings currently lives in Portland, Oregon. Recently, Jennings has become an accomplished masters rower (sculler), winning a gold medal (2012) and bronze medal (2011) in the women's grand master single scull event at the Head of the Charles Regatta, one of the most competitive, and prestigious long distance rowing races in the world.

Achievements

Year Competition Venue Position Event Notes
Representing the  United States
1986 World Cross Country Championships Neuchatel, Switzerland 2nd
1987 World Cross Country Championships Warsaw, Poland 4th
World Championships Rome, Italy 6th 10,000 m 31:45.43
1988 World Cross Country Championships Auckland, New Zealand 4th
Olympic Games Seoul, South Korea 6th 10,000 m 31:39.93
1989 World Cross Country Championships Stavanger, Norway 6th
1990 World Cross Country Championships Aix-les-Bains, France 1st
Goodwill Games Seattle, United States 3rd 3000 m 8:52.34
1991 World Cross Country Championships Antwerp, Belgium 1st
World Championships Tokyo, Japan 5th 10,000 m 31:54.44
1992 World Cross Country Championships Boston, United States 1st
Olympic Games Barcelona, Spain 3rd 10,000 m 31:19.89
1993 World Indoor Championships Toronto, Canada 3rd 3000 m 9:03.78
World Cross Country Championships Amorebieta, Spain 3rd
World Championships Stuttgart, Germany 5th 10,000 m 31:30.53
1995 World Indoor Championships Barcelona, Spain 2nd 3000 m 8:55.23
World Championships Gothenburg, Sweden 12th 10,000 m 32:12.82
1996 Olympic Games Atlanta, United States 9th 5000 m 15:17.50
Circuit wins

See also

References

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External links