{{short description|Dutch long-distance runner}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2025}} {{Use British English|date=May 2025}} {{Infobox sportsperson | name = Jos Hermens | image =Jos Hermens 1975.jpg | caption =Hermens in 1975 | nationality = Dutch | sport = Athletics | event = long distance | club = KNAU | birth_date = 8 January 1950 | birth_place = Nijmegen, Netherlands | death_date = | death_place = | height =179 cm | weight = 67 kg | medaltemplates= {{MedalSport | Men's athletics}} {{Medal|Country|20px Europe}} {{MedalCompetition|IAAF World Cup}} {{MedalBronze| 1977 Düsseldorf |10,000 metres}} }}
'''Josephus Maria Melchior Hermens''' (born 8 January 1950) is a former Dutch long-distance runner. Subsequently, he also became well known for his later career as a sports manager as the founder and CEO of Global Sports Communication, which manages many Olympian athletes.
==Running career== Hermens is a three-time national champion in the men's 5,000 metres, and collected his first title on 14 July 1973 in The Hague.<ref name="ARRS">{{cite web|url=https://www.arrs.run/NC_O5KNED.htm| title=''ARRS website''}}</ref> He was named Dutch Sportsman of the Year in 1975. He was a 10,000 metres finalist at the 1976 Summer Olympics and set the world record for the hour run the same year.<ref name="RunningTimes">{{cite web| url=http://runningtimes.com/rt/articles/?id=4738&c=134| title=Jos Hermens: The Athlete's Agent| last=Gains| first=Paul| year=2005| publisher=Running Times Magazine| access-date=2007-10-31| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060821152452/https://www.runningtimes.com/rt/articles/?id=4738&c=134| archive-date=2006-08-21| url-status=dead}}</ref>
Hermens twice improved the world hour record, on the Papendal track. In September 1975, with Gerard Tebroke as a pacemaker, he ran 20,907 meters. In May 1976, without a pacemaker, he ran an additional 37 meters. This record held until 1991.
Hermens had withdrawn from the 1972 Olympic Games following the Munich massacre. "It's quite simple," he said. "We were invited to a party, and if someone comes to the party and shoots people, how can you stay?"<ref name="NYT-2002-08-12">{{Citation |last=Butcher |first=Pat |date=August 12, 2002 |title=ATHLETICS: In Munich, Israelis honor '72 victims |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/12/sports/12iht-track_ed3_.html |accessdate=October 11, 2012}}</ref>
Hermens finished third behind Dave Bedford in the 10,000 metres event at the 1972 AAA Championships<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001816/19720716/031/0031 |title=AAA Championships full results |work=Birmingham Weekly Mercury |date=16 July 1972 |via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |access-date=27 May 2025}}</ref> and second behind Brendan Foster in the 5,000 metres at the 1974 AAA Championships.<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=27 May 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gbrathletics.com/bc/aaa.htm |title=AAA Championships (men) |website=GBR Athletics |access-date=27 May 2025}}</ref>
== Sports management career == After his athletic career was cut short by injuries, Hermens worked for Nike, leaving it in 1985 to start his management company, Global Sports Communications. Hermens' company manages in excess of 100 athletes; his current and former clients include Haile Gebrselassie, Eliud Kipchoge, Kenenisa Bekele, Gabriela Szabo, Nils Schumann,<ref name="RunningTimes"/> and Hezekiél Sepeng.<ref>[http://www.iaaf.org/news/athletes/newsid=27393.html Focus on Athletes - Hezekiel Sepeng]. IAAF (2004-09-14), retrieved 2011-11-21.</ref>
== References == {{reflist}}
==External links== *{{World Athletics||name=Jos Hermens}}
{{s-start}} {{s-ach|aw}} {{S-bef|before=Egbert Nijstad}} {{S-ttl|title=Herman van Leeuwen Cup|years=1972<br>1974, 1975|rows=2}} {{S-aft|after=Haico Scharn}} {{S-bef|before=Haico Scharn}} {{S-aft|after=Ruud Wielart}} {{succession box|title=Dutch Sportsman of the Year|before=Johan Cruijff|after=Piet Kleine|years=1975}} {{s-end}} {{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hermens, Jos}} Category:Living people Category:1950 births Category:Dutch men long-distance runners Category:Dutch athletics coaches Category:Dutch sports executives and administrators Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1976 Summer Olympics Category:World record setters in the sport of athletics Category:Olympic athletes for the Netherlands Category:Sportspeople from Nijmegen Category:Athletes from Gelderland Category:21st-century Dutch people Category:20th-century Dutch sportsmen