Jean Whitehead

{{Short description|British long jumper}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Use British English|date=February 2025}} {{for |the Welsh sprinter|Jean Whitehead (sprinter)}} {{Infobox sportsperson | headercolor = | name = Jean Whitehead | image = | image_size =  | caption = | nationality = British (English) | birth_date = Q3. 1937 | birth_place = Southport, England | death_date = | death_place = | sport = Athletics | event = long jump | club = Liverpool Harriers<br>London Olympiades AC | pb = }}

'''Jean Whitehead''' (born 1937) is a female former athlete who competed for England.

== Biography == Whitehead was educated at Southport High School and joined Liverpool Harriers & AC in 1953<ref name=LE>{{cite news |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000271/19620510/325/0014 |title=Jean Whitehead London Olympiades |work=Liverpool Echo |date=10 May 1962 |page=14|via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |access-date=22 November 2025}}</ref> and aged just 18 established a new record of 18 ft 9ins (5.71 m) in winning the Northern Senior title in 1955.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.liverpoolharriers.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/ClubHistoryPart21.pdf|title=Club history|publisher=Liverpool Harriers & AC}}</ref>

Whitehead finished third behind Jean Desforges in the long jump event at the 1954 WAAA Championships<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000844/19540620/159/0018 |title=Diane is a Real Smasher |work=Sunday Mirror |date=20 June 1954 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |access-date=16 February 2025 }}</ref><ref>{{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=16 February 2025}}</ref> and repeated the performance twice more at the 1956 WAAA Championships and 1957 WAAA Championships but this time behind Sheila Hoskin and Christina Persighetti respectively.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gbrathletics.com/bc/waaa.htm |title=AAA Championships (women) |website=GBR Athletics |access-date=16 February 2025 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003359/19570707/213/0013 |title=Schoolgirls Jolt Olympic Jump Star |work=Weekly Dispatch (London) |date=7 July 1957 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |access-date=19 February 2025 }}</ref>

Whitehead represented England<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000560/19580612/117/0020 |title=Marion jumps into Games |work=Daily Mirror |p=20 |date=12 June 1958 |via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |access-date=28 September 2025}}</ref> in the long jump at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Cardiff, Wales.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://thecgf.com/results/athletes/41405|title=Athletes and results|publisher=Commonwealth Games Federation|access-date=26 July 2019|archive-date=26 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190726164505/https://thecgf.com/results/athletes/41405|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://teamengland.org/commonwealth-games-history/cardiff-1958/athletes|title=1958 Athletes|publisher=Team England}}</ref>

In 1962 she was teaching physical education at Finchley School.<ref name=LE/>

== References == {{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Whitehead, Jean}} Category:1937 births Category:Living people Category:English women long jumpers Category:British women long jumpers Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Category:Commonwealth Games athletes for England Category:20th-century English sportswomen