Joy Jordan

Born in Farnborough, Hampshire, Buckmaster finished third behind Janet Ruff in the 440 yards event at the 1956 WAAA Championships.{{cite news |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0004941/19560812/285/0012 |title=Girl of 19 beats world record |work=Sunday Express |date=12 August 1956 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |access-date=19 February 2025 }}

She married Dennis Jordan (who would be her coach at the 1960 Olympic Games), in 1957 in north-west Surrey and competed under her married name thereafter.{{cite web|url=https://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?r=215087616:2498&d=bmd_1737698379 |title=Marriages |website=Free BMD |access-date=19 February 2025 }}

Jordan became the national 880 yards champion after winning the British WAAA Championships title at the 1958 WAAA Championships defeating her great rival Diane Leather.{{cite web|url=http://www.gbrathletics.com/bc/waaa.htm |title=AAA Championships (women) |website=GBR Athletics |access-date=19 February 2025 }} The same year she competed in the 800 metres event at the 1958 European Athletics Championships in Stockholm, where she came ninth in the final.

On 14 June 1958 in London, she competed in the 4 × 400 metres relay in a British team which broke the world record with a time of 3:49.9. This record would hold until 5 August 1967, when a Swedish team took it to 3:49.4 at the Ryavallen, Borås in Sweden. The event was only recognised by the IAAF in 1969.

Image:Lyudmila Shevtsova and Brenda Jones 1960.jpg

In 1959, she was ranked third in the world at 800m and successfully retained her WAAA title at the 1959 WAAA Championships{{cite news |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003359/19590705/247/0012 |title=Three girl athletes share six titles |work=Weekly Dispatch (London) |date=5 July 1959 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |access-date=19 February 2025 }} and the 1960 WAAA Championships.{{cite web|url=https://www.nuts.org.uk/Champs/AAA/index.htm |title=AAA, WAAA and National Championships Medallists |website=National Union of Track Statisticians |access-date=19 February 2025}}

At the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome, she represented Great Britain aged 24, in the 800 metres competition, where she came sixth in the final with a time of 2:07.8. The world record was broken in the final by Lyudmila Shevtsova of the Soviet Union.

A few weeks after the Olympics, in Welwyn Garden City in Hertfordshire on 24 September 1960, she ran 2:06.1 for the 880 yards, taking the world record from Nina Otkalenko (2:06.6) of the Soviet Union. Nina Otkalenko held the 800m world record for most of the 1950s.

After winning a fourth and fifth consecutive WAAA title at the 1961 WAAA Championships{{cite news |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001816/19610709/027/0027 |title=Britain find a stand-in for Carole - From Australia |work=Birmingham Weekly Mercury |date=9 July 1961 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |access-date=22 February 2025 }} and 1962 WAAA Championships respectively,{{cite news |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001816/19620708/031/0031 |title=Golden girls serve up a record rush |work=Birmingham Weekly Mercury |date=8 July 1962 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |access-date=23 February 2025 }} she competed in the 800 metres event at the 1962 European Athletics Championships in Belgrade, coming fourth in the final with a British record of 2:05.0, and her career best at the 800m, where Gerda Kraan of the Netherlands won. Also in 1962, Jordan competed in the 880 yards at the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Australia, where she gained a bronze for England with 2:05.9.{{Cite web |url=http://www.thecgf.com/games/results.asp?gameid=3035&sportid=1503 |title=Commonwealth Games |access-date=2016-08-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160822185640/http://www.thecgf.com/games/results.asp?gameid=3035&sportid=1503 |archive-date=2016-08-22 |url-status=dead }}

Jordan finished second behind Rita Lincoln in the 1 mile event at the 1967 WAAA Championships.{{cite news |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0004941/19670702/480/0023 |title=Board may forgive Anne |work=Sunday Express |date=2 July 1967 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |access-date=1 March 2025 }}

She lives in Radcliffe-on-Trent in Nottinghamshire. She had a daughter in 1964, and a son in 1966.

• Women's 4 × 400 metres relay world record progression
• 800 metres world record progression

{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.britishathletics.org.uk/ba-home-straight/hall-of-fame-athletes/joy-jordan/ British Athletics Hall of Fame]
• [http://www.britishpathe.com/video/all-set-for-empire-games British Pathé October 1962]

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{{succession box|before=|title=Women's 4 × 400 metres relay record holder|years=14 June 1958 – 5 August 1967|after=}}

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Category:1935 births

Category:Sportspeople from Farnborough, Hampshire

Category:People from Radcliffe-on-Trent

Category:Sportspeople from Hampshire

Category:Sportspeople from Nottinghamshire

Category:English female middle-distance runners

Category:British female middle-distance runners

Category:Olympic athletes for Great Britain

Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1960 Summer Olympics

Category:Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for England

Category:Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics

Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games

Category:World record setters in athletics (track and field)

Category:Living people

Category:Medallists at the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games

Category:20th-century English sportswomen