Marian Needham

{{Short description|Former British athlete}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Use British English|date=February 2025}} {{Infobox sportsperson | name = Marian Needham | image = | image_size =  | caption = | nationality = British (English) | birth_date = 9 September 1941 | birth_place = Rutland, England | death_date = | death_place = | sport = Athletics | event = Long jump | height = | weight = | club = Walton AC | pb = }}

'''Marian I. Needham''' also spelt '''Marion Needham''' (born 9 September 1941), is a female former athlete who competed for England.

== Biography == Needham 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/41406|title=Athletes and results|publisher=Commonwealth Games Federation|access-date=25 July 2019|archive-date=25 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190725200554/https://thecgf.com/results/athletes/41406|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://teamengland.org/commonwealth-games-history/cardiff-1958/athletes|title=1958 Athletes|publisher=Team England}}</ref>

Needham finished second behind Mary Bignal in the long jump event at the 1959 WAAA Championships<ref>{{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 }}</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=19 February 2025}}</ref> and was second again, this time behind Ann Packer at the 1960 WAAA Championships.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gbrathletics.com/bc/waaa.htm |title=AAA Championships (women) |website=GBR Athletics |access-date=19 February 2025 }}</ref>

Needham, a shorthand typist at the time, informed the British Olympic selectors that she was unavailable for selection for the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome because she did not want to leave her fiancée.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003215/19600203/176/0010 |title=Romance |work=Daily News (London) |date=3 February 1960 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |access-date=19 February 2025 }}</ref> She married Clive Jones the following year and competed under her married name thereafter.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?r=223223379:7788&d=bmd_1737698379 |title=Marriages |website=Free BMD |access-date=19 February 2025 }}</ref>

She later coached at Feltham Middlesex AC.

== References == {{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Needham, Marian}} Category:1941 births Category:English women long jumpers Category:British women long jumpers Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Category:Living people Category:Commonwealth Games athletes for England Category:20th-century English sportswomen