Jo Pavey

Joanne Marie Pavey MBE (née Davis, born 20 September 1973) is a British long-distance runner representing Europe, Great Britain and England in a career notable for its longevity, range and consistency.

Born in Honiton, Devon, since 1987 Jo Pavey (née Davis) has been a member of Exeter Harriers Athletics Club in Devon, England.

In March 1988 she started to be coached by the middle distance coach Tony White.

In July 1988 she won the English Schools 1500 m title in a British record (under 15).

Running for Devon, she finished eight places and 13 seconds ahead of Paula Radcliffe, running for Bedfordshire.

Pavey then won the AAAs national U15 800 m and 1500 m titles in 1988 and the AAAs national U17 800 & 1500 m titles in 1990.

She made her Great Britain & NI debut in Athens in 1989 as a fifteen-year-old competing as an under twenty.

After finishing her degree in physiotherapy, she spent the period from October 1996 to May 1997 backpacking.

It was during this winter that she was first coached by her husband, Gavin Pavey.

Pavey made her senior international debut in 1997.

Over the course of the 1997 season she improved with each race over the 1500 m and went on to win the British national title.

At the 1997 World Championships in Athens, she reached the semi-finals.

A six time national champion in the women's 5000 m and a former British recorder holder at 3000 m indoors.

She first moved up to the 5000 m in 2000, after coming back from a two-year absence caused by hip and knee injuries.

Pavey injured her knee when running down a hill which required surgery.

In her first race at the distance she comfortably achieved the Olympic qualifying standard.

Pavey is a five-time Olympian, having represented Great Britain in every Olympic Games from 2000 to 2016.

She is the only British runner and track event athlete to have competed in five games.

This meant she was selected for the British team for the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney.

Pavey reached the Olympic final, where she improved her personal best by 10 seconds to finish 12th and record a sub fifteen minute 5000m in her first year at the event.

Pavey's Olympic performance in her debut year at 5000m set her up for a bright future at 5000m, and she entered the 2001 season with the aim of rivalling the national record.

She spent the winter doing warm weather training in South Africa.

Having trained for only half an hour a day during much of the 2000 season due to injury worries, Pavey gradually built up her training.

However, a shin injury meant she missed the first month of her season.

Her first race of the year was the 3,000 m in a meeting at Lausanne, in which she finished seventh.

Two weeks later she won the British 5,000 m title, and in doing so gained selection for the World Championships in Edmonton.

The women's 5,000 m at the Edmonton championships featured a controversy over the participation of Olga Yegorova, who had tested positive for erythropoietin (EPO), but had her suspension overturned.

Several athletes, including the British team, discussed whether to boycott the event, but decided against it.

After another winter of warm weather training in South Africa, Pavey started the 2002 season with a 3,000 m performance which was at the time the fastest in the world that year.

Pavey missed the trials for the Commonwealth Games due to a virus.

She returned in the European Cup, where she finished second to Olga Yegorova in the 5,000 m.

At global level, her best results include bronze in the 10,000 m at the 2007 World Championships and fifth in the 5000 m at the 2004 Olympic Games.

From 2007 onwards, she focused on longer distances, ranging from 5000 m to the marathon.

She has personal best times of 4:01.79 (1500 m), 8:31.27 (3000 m), 14:39.96 (5000 m), 30:53.20 (10,000 m) and 2:28:24 (marathon).

An eleven-time national champion at distances between 1500 metres and the Marathon, she is coached by her husband and manager Gavin Pavey, with whom she has two children.

She is also the 2012 European Championship silver medallist in the 10,000 m and a two-time 5000 m medallist at the Commonwealth Games, winning silver in Melbourne 2006 and bronze, aged 40, in Glasgow 2014.

A World, European and Commonwealth medallist, Pavey won her only senior title when she claimed the 10,000 m gold medal at the 2014 European Championships in Zürich, ten months after giving birth to her second child, to become the oldest female European champion in history at the age of 40 years and 325 days.

In 2015 media reports stated that 2007 silver medalist Elvan Abeylegesse had been found, on retesting, to have taken a prohibited substance, and suspended by IAAF.

Confirmed in 2017, this elevated Pavey to the bronze medal, her first World Championship medal.

Earlier in her career she competed in the 1500 metres, 3000 metres and 5000 metres distances.