James Beckford (athlete)

James Beckford

200px James Beckford (2012)
Medal record
Men’s athletics
Representing Jamaica
Olympic Games
	1996 Atlanta	Long jump
World Championships
	1995 Gothenburg	Long jump
	2003 Paris	Long jump
World Indoor Championships
	2004 Budapest	Long jump

James Beckford (born 9 January 1975 in Saint Mary, Jamaica) is a Jamaican track and field athlete competing in the long jump. He represented Jamaica at the Olympic level in 1996, 2000 and 2004. He was the silver medallist in the long jump at the 1996 Olympics and also has two silvers from the World Championships in Athletics (from 1995 and 2003). He was chosen as the Jamaica Sportsman of the Year for 1995, 1996 and 2003. He is the current holder of the Jamaican record for both the long jump and triple jump with marks of 8.62 m and 17.92 m, respectively.

Beckford was educated in the United States and began his athletics career there, specialising in the horizontal jumps. He took the triple jump title at Florida's Class AAAA championship, representing William R. Boone High School. He moved to Texas to study at Blinn College. While there he improved Delroy Poyser's Jamaican record with a jump of 17.29 metres (56 ft 8¾ in) – a mark which was also the world-leading outdoor jump at that point in April 1994.

He was banned from competition for three months in 1997 after he tested positive for ephedrine, a banned stimulant.

He has competed at the World Championships on five occasions and the IAAF World Indoor Championships on six occasions. Aside from his global performances, he has won medals at the Summer Universiade, the Goodwill Games, the IAAF Grand Prix Final, as well as a silver medal from the 1998 CAC Games.

Achievements

Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Event	Notes
1995	World Championships	Gothenburg, Sweden	2nd	Long jump
			6th	Triple jump
	Grand Prix Final	Monte Carlo, Monaco	3rd	Long jump
1996	Olympic Games	Atlanta, Georgia, United States	2nd	Long jump
1997	World Indoor Championships	Paris, France	5th	Long jump
	World Championships	Athens, Greece	4th	Long jump
	Universiade	Catania, Italy	2nd	Long jump
	Grand Prix Final	Fukuoka, Japan	2nd	Long jump
1998	Goodwill Games	New York City, United States	3rd	Long jump
	CAC Games	Maracaibo, Venezuela	2nd	Long jump
1999	World Indoor Championships	Maebashi, Japan	5th	Long jump
2000	Olympic Games	Sydney, Australia	9th (qualifiers)	Long jump
2001	World Championships	Edmonton, Canada	7th	Long jump
	Goodwill Games	Brisbane, Australia	1st	Long jump
	Grand Prix Final	Melbourne, Australia	4th	Long jump
2003	World Indoor Championships	Birmingham, England	6th (qualifiers)	Long jump
	World Championships	Paris, France	2nd	Long jump
	World Athletics Final	Monte Carlo, Monaco	7th	Long jump
2004	World Indoor Championships	Budapest, Hungary	2nd	Long jump
	Olympic Games	Athens, Greece	4th	Long jump
	World Athletics Final	Monte Carlo, Monaco	5th	Long jump
2005	World Championships	Helsinki, Finland	9th	Long jump
	World Athletics Final	Monte Carlo, Monaco	3rd	Long jump
2006	World Indoor Championships	Moscow, Russia	6th (qualifiers)	Long jump
	World Athletics Final	Stuttgart, Germany	7th	Long jump
2007	World Championships	Osaka, Japan	6th	Long jump
2008	World Indoor Championships	Valencia, Spain	6th	Long jump

See also

• List of sportspeople sanctioned for doping offences

References

• James Beckford profile at IAAF

Awards
Preceded by Jimmy Adams	Jamaica Sportsman of the Year 1995 – 1996	Succeeded by Deon Burton
Preceded by Michael Blackwood	Jamaica Sportsman of the Year 2003	Succeeded by Danny McFarlane
Sporting positions
Preceded by Iván Pedroso	Men's Long Jump Best Year Performance 1998	Succeeded by Iván Pedroso
Preceded by Iván Pedroso	Men's Long Jump Best Year Performance 2001	Succeeded by Savanté Stringfellow