Jonathan Peter Ridgeon (born 14 February 1967, in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk

Suffolk

Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...

) is a retired British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 hurdling

Hurdling

Hurdling is a type of track and field race.- Distances :There are sprint hurdle races and long hurdle races. The standard sprint hurdle race is 110 meters for men and 100 meters for women. The standard long hurdle race is 400 meters for both men and women...

 athlete who won the silver medal in the 110 metres hurdles

110 metres hurdles

The 110 metres hurdles is a hurdling track and field event for men. It is incuded in the athletics programme at the Summer Olympic Games. The female counterpart is the 100 metre hurdles. As part of a racing event, ten hurdles of 1.067 metres in height are evenly spaced along a straight...

 at the 1987 World Championships

1987 World Championships in Athletics

The 2nd World Championships in Athletics under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations were held in the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, Italy between August 28 and September 6, 1987.-Track:1983 | 1987 | 1991 | 1993 | 1995...

.

Biography

Ridgeon won the 110 m hurdles at the European Junior Championship in 1985, ahead of his fellow British athlete Colin Jackson

Colin Jackson

Colin Ray Jackson CBE is a British former sprint and hurdling athlete who specialised in the 110 metres hurdles. Over his career representing Great Britain and Wales he won an Olympic silver medal, became world champion three times, went undefeated at the European Championships for 12 years and...

, who finished runner-up. Ridgeon then finished second to Jackson the 1986 World Junior Championships

1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics

The 1st World Junior Championships in Athletics was the 1986 version of the World Junior Championships in Athletics. It was held in Athens, Greece.-Men:-Women:-Medals table:-External links:* at GBRathletics.com...

.

Ridgeon won the 110 m hurdles gold medal at the 1987 Universiade

1987 Summer Universiade

The 1987 Summer Universiade, also known as the XIV Summer Universiade, took place in Zagreb, Croatia . It involved participants from 111 countries and over 6,000 individual sportspersons and members of teams.-Medal table:...

 (World University Games) in Zagreb

Zagreb

Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...

.

At the 1987 World Championships in Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

, Ridgeon won a silver medal in the 110 m hurdles (with Jackson taking the bronze medal). Ridgeon then finished in fifth place at the 1988 Olympic Games

1988 Summer Olympics

The 1988 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad, were an all international multi-sport events celebrated from September 17 to October 2, 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. They were the second summer Olympic Games to be held in Asia and the first since the 1964 Summer Olympics...

 in Seoul

Seoul

Seoul , officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea. A megacity with a population of over 10 million, it is the largest city proper in the OECD developed world...

 (where Jackson came second). However Ridgeon and Jackson's rivalry was comparatively short-lived, as Ridgeon began to develop injuries that led to him missing out on most major event in the following years.

When Ridgeon returned to regular competition, he switched to the 400 metres hurdles

400 metres hurdles

The 400 metres hurdles is an Olympic athletics event in track and field. On a standard outdoor track 400 metres is the length of the inside lane once around the stadium. Runners stay in their lane the entire way after starting out of the blocks and must clear ten hurdles that are evenly...

, before his retiring from the sport.

Ridgeon was educated at Magdalene College, Cambridge

Magdalene College, Cambridge

Magdalene College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.The college was founded in 1428 as a Benedictine hostel, in time coming to be known as Buckingham College, before being refounded in 1542 as the College of St Mary Magdalene...

. He is the current managing director of Fast Track, a company that organises athletics events. As well as working with Fast Track, Ridgeon has also been a TV commentator for the BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 and BSkyB since retiring as an athlete.

Personal bests

• 110m H - 13.29 (Zagreb, Croatia, 15 Jul 1987)
• 400m H - 48.73 (Rieti, Italy, 6 Sep 1992)