Jerry Cornes

John Frederick Cornes also known as Jerry Cornes (23 March 1910 – 19 June 2001) was an English middle distance runner, colonial officer, and schoolmaster. He was born in Darjeeling, British India.

Early life The son of a judge in the Indian Civil Service, Cornes was educated at Clifton College and won a scholarship to Corpus Christi College, Oxford, where he read history. He stayed at Oxford for an extra year, studying one of the languages of Nigeria and learning how to work in the colonies. He left Oxford in 1932, when he competed in the Olympics at Los Angeles.

Career After the 1932 Olympic Games, Cornes was posted to Nigeria as a civil servant. He stayed there for five years, during which time he was given leave to attend the 1936 Games in Berlin. He only decided to go for the '36 Olympics a year before, so he did no intensive training in between, but during that time he raced a local Nigerian around the walls of Katsima and lost. At the 1930 British Empire Games he won the bronze medal in the 1 mile event. Four years later at the 1934 Empire Games he won again the bronze medal in the 1 mile competition.

Cornes became the national 1 mile champion after winning the British AAA Championships title at the 1932 AAA Championships.

Shortly afterwards he was selected to represent Great Britain at the 1932 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, in the 1500 metres, where he won the silver medal. His time was 3 minutes 52 seconds. He then competed in the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, gaining sixth place in the 1500 metres event but running his personal best time of 3 minutes 51.4 seconds. The race was exceptional because the first two runners broke World Records and the first five, Olympic Records.