Lou Jones

Who was Lou Jones?

Louis "Lou" Woodard Jones is an American athlete, winner of the gold medal in the 4x400 m relay at the 1956 Summer Olympics.

Born in New Rochelle, New York, Lou Jones won the 400 m at the 1955 Pan-American Games, where he set a new world record of 45.4. He was also a member of the gold medal winning American 4x400 m relay team.

Just four months before the Melbourne Olympics, Jones broke his own 400 m world record, clocking 45.2 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in the US Olympic Trials, thus becoming a main favourite at this event in Melbourne.

But in the Olympic 400 m final, Jones was off form, and managed to finish only in a disappointing fifth place, 1.50 seconds behind teammate Charles Jenkins. A few days later, Jones partly compensated for his disappointment, running the second leg in the gold medal winning American 4x400 m relay team.

Jones graduated from Manhattan College in 1954.