54 Facts About Jo Pavey

Joanne Marie Pavey MBE is a British long-distance runner representing Europe, Great Britain and England in a career notable for its longevity, range and consistency.

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

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

Jo Pavey has personal best times of 4:01.79,8:31.27,14:39.96,30:53.20 and 2:28:24.

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

Jo 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.

Jo Pavey spent the winter doing warm weather training in South Africa.

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

Jo Pavey required assistance to leave the track, and did not leave the stadium for another three hours as she received medical attention.

Jo Pavey's condition was later attributed to a magnesium deficiency together with the infection.

Jo Pavey was second with one lap remaining, but faded and finished tenth.

Jo Pavey was pushed by another athlete into lane three in the final straight and was passed by a number of athletes.

Jo's coach, Gavin Jo Pavey, wanted Jo to gain more tactical experience and to mix things up ahead of the 2004 Olympics Games and this was the reason to step down to 1500m.

Jo Pavey had continued to train as a 5000m runner in 2003 but ran a series of impressive 1500m races with 4:02.03 Rome, 4:03.91 Madrid and at the Paris World champs a slow tactical heat in 4:08.60, semi final of 4:03.78 and final of 4:03.03.

Jo Pavey then won in Rieti with 4:04.46 before her final race of 4:01.79 in Monaco.

Jo Pavey set a UK national record for 3000 m indoors in February 2004 in Birmingham, England and broke this record in January 2007 in Stuttgart, Germany with a time of 8:31.50.

In 2007, despite illness, Jo Pavey set a European record over two miles indoors.

Jo Pavey has won the National Championships at 5000 m on six occasions and in 2007 and 2008 she won both the 5000 m and the 10,000 m In 2010, she added a third 10000m title and then in 2014, just eight months after giving birth by c-section, she won a fourth national 10000m title.

Jo Pavey has doubled up at various championships including eight place in the 5000 m following her bronze medal in the 10,000 m in the 2007 World Championships in Athletics.

Jo Pavey was the women's European team captain for the 2014 Continental Cup.

Jo Pavey's road running career major race wins have included the Great South Run and the Great Manchester Run.

Jo Pavey finished 3rd in the Great North Run in the closest finishes the event has seen with two seconds covering the first three athletes.

In 2005 Jo Pavey front ran a 5000m in 14:40.71 only to be overtaken on the final lap by a chasing pack of six Kenyan and Ethiopian athletes.

Jo Pavey improved to 14:39.96 in 2006 at the Brussels Golden League when finishing third behind Tirunesh Dibaba and Meseret Defar.

At the beginning of the 2009 athletics season, Jo Pavey revealed that she was pregnant and, as a result, she would miss both the 2009 London Marathon and 2009 World Championships.

In September 2009, Jo and her husband Gavin Jo Pavey, had their first child, Jacob Matthew Jo Pavey.

Jo Pavey returned to competition in April 2010, finishing second to Freya Murray at the Great Ireland Run, but she was not disappointed and said she was very pleased with a strong return race after her year out.

Jo Pavey then ran in the ING New York City Marathon finishing in a time of 2:28:42, which given the hilly nature of the race represented a significant improvement on her London time.

Jo Pavey sustained stress fractures in both the summer of 2010 and 2011.

Jo Pavey was not selected for the British marathon team after missing the 2012 London Marathon, but came second at the European Cup 10000m in June and her time of 31:32.22 minutes was within the qualifying standard.

Jo Pavey ran an Olympic Games A standard for 5000m at the British Milers Club meeting in Manchester, England and a further 5000m A standard at Rome's Golden Gala Diamond League meeting.

Jo Pavey is the only female athlete in the modern era to have competed over 1500m, 5000m and 10000m at an Olympic Games and World Championships.

At the 2012 European Championships in Helsinki Jo Pavey won a silver medal in the 10000m in a time of 31:49.03.

Jo Pavey finished seventh in both the 5000m and 10000m at the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Jo Pavey was the first European in both races with the top six places in the 5000m all going to Kenyan and Ethiopian athletes.

Jo Pavey won the 2012 Great South Run in a time of 53:01 to reclaim the title she won for the first time six years previously.

Jo Pavey went to the front, after being overtaken on three occasions.

Ten days after the Commonwealth Games, Jo Pavey won her first major championship, the 10,000 meters at the European Championships, just a little more than a month before turning 41, becoming the oldest female to win a gold medal in the history of the championships, more than three years older than the previous holder of the distinction.

Jo Pavey finished her 2014 season with bronze in the Continental Cup in Marrakech, Morocco.

Jo Pavey was given the honour of being named the female captain of the European Team which won the Continental Cup ahead of the Americas, Africa and Asia-Pacific.

Jo Pavey finished in third place in the 2014 BBC Sports Personality of the Year behind Lewis Hamilton and Rory McIlroy.

Jo Pavey was named British Sports Women of the Year at the SJA Awards.

Jo Pavey was honoured with the Freedom of the City of Exeter and an honorary doctorate from the University of Exeter.

Jo Pavey was selected for the 2015 World Championships but opted to miss the championships and eased back on her tough training schedule.

Jo Pavey ran an over 40 world record for 10 miles of 52:44 at the Great South Run in Portsmouth, England.

Jo Pavey returned to competition in 2016 with the aim of competing in a fifth Olympic Games.

Jo Pavey travelled to Boston, USA for a 10000m race in which she hoped to gain the Olympic qualifying time.

Jo Pavey became the first British runner and the first British track athlete to compete in five Olympic Games.

At the age of 42 years 11 months, Jo Pavey became the oldest British track competitor at an Olympic Games.

Jo Pavey started running at the King's School, Ottery St Mary, where teachers encouraged her to join an athletics club.

Jo Pavey joined Exeter Harriers in 1987, where an early coach was Tony White.

Jo Pavey has coached her to finals at all the major championships.

Jo Pavey married Gavin Pavey in 1995, whom she met at Exeter Harriers in 1988.

In 2019 Jo Pavey appeared on BBCs Pointless Celebrities charity edition, partnered with presenter Ade Adepitan, reaching but failing to win in the final rounds answers.