Barbara Pearl JONES

Through 2004, at the age of 15 years 123 days, Barbara Jones of the Chicago CYO is the youngest female of any nation to have won an Olympic gold medal in track & field. She missed the 1956 Games but in 1960, by which time she was attending Tennessee State, Barbara Jones won a second gold medal in the relay. In Rome she also ran in the 100 m but was eliminated in the semi-finals. Between her two Olympic successes, Barbara Jones won the AAU 100 m in 1953 and 1954, and the 100y in 1957. At the 1955 Pan American Games she won a gold medal in the 100 m as well as in the 4×100 m relay (with Isabelle Daniels, Mae Faggs, and Mabel Landry). At the 1959 Pan American Games Jones again won the gold medal in the 4×100 m relay (with Isabelle Daniels, Lucinda Williams, and Wilma Rudolph) and a silver medal in the 60 m. Later Jones became a member of the Paralympic Games Committee of the USA.

Personal Best: 100 – 11.5 (1955).