Domestic Championships Record
1988 – ESAA Championships (U15) 1500m gold
1997 – UK Championships 1500m gold
2001 – AAA National Championships 5000m gold
2004 – AAA National Indoor Championships 3000m gold
2005 – AAA National Indoor Championships 3000m gold
2006 – National Championships 5000m gold national Championships 10,000m gold
2007 – National Championships 5000m gold. National Championships 10,000m gold
2008 – National Championships 10,000m gold. Olympic Trials National Championships 5000m gold
2010 - National Championships 10,000m gold.
2012 – Aviva Olympic Trials & UK Championships 5000m gold
2014 - National Championships & European Trials 10000m gold
Major Championships Record
2014 - European Championships 10000m gold, Commonwealth Games 5000m bronze, Continental Cup 5000 bronze
2012 – Olympic Games 10,000m 7th, 5000m 7th
2012 - European Championships 10000m silver
2008 – Olympic Games 10,000m 12th
2007 – World Championships 10,000m bronze, 5000m 8th.
2006 – European Championshps 5000m 4th. Commonwealth Games 5000m silver. European Cup 3000m gold.
2004 – Olympic Games 5000m 5th, European Cross Country Championships bronze
2003 – World Championships 1500m 10th. World Athletics Final 3000m bronze
2002 – European Championships 5000m 5th. Commonwealth Games 5000m 5th. World Cup 5000m bronze
2001 – World Championships 5000m 11th
2000 – Olympic Games 5000m 12th
1997 – World Championships 1500m 11th sf
Jo Pavey (nee Davis) was a precocious youngster, setting a British U15 1500m record of 4:27.9 in 1988, and winning two 800m and two 1500m national titles in the junior age groups. Following failed foot surgery after the 1990 season due to an anatomical abnormality she battled with injuries between 1991 and 1996. She qualified for her first World Championships in 1997 over 1500m. In 2000 she competed over 5000m and qualified for the Olympic final, finishing 12th in a then lifetime best of 14:58.27. After coaching Jo Pavey during the winter of 1996/97 her husband Gavin Pavey took over again as her coach. Between 2000 and 2008 she then competed in the final of very major outdoor championship winning various medals.
In 2004, she set a UK indoor record over 3000m. There were doubts as to whether she would recover from a calf injury to compete at the Olympic Games in Athens but she delivered a gutsy performance to finish fifth.
She won a silver medal at the 2006 Commonwealth Games 5000m. In a controversial race, where all three medallists have since seen been banned for doping offences, Jo Pavey finished in fourth place at the 2006 European Championships.
She broke her own British record indoors over 3000m in 2007 with 8:31.50. In the summer of 2007 she won a 10000m bronze medal at the World Championships in Osaka, Japan followed by 8th place in the 5000m. Controversy also surrounds the 10000m race as the winner of the silver medal, Elvan Abeylegesse, was banned for doping offences.
Pavey suffered food poisoning at the Olympic Games in Beijing, finishing a disappointing 12th in the 10000m final and she then withdraw from the 5000m.
Jo had intended to make her marathon debut in the 2009 London Marathon but decided to start a family before going on to record 2:28.24 in 2011. Pavey opted not to compete in the Olympic trials for the marathon but instead chose to compete over 5000m and 10000m. In the London 2012 Olympics she was the first non East African in both the 5000m and 10000m when finishing in 7th place in both races.
Jo won a silver medal over 10000m in the 2012 European Championships. In 2014 Jo won a bronze medal in the 5000m at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games. Ten days later she became the oldest European Champion in history when winning the 10000m gold medal in Zurich.
Jo Pavey is the oldest ever track athlete to represent Great Britain in an Olympic Games and is the only British athlete to have competed in five Olympic Games. She is also one of the few athletes to have competed in three individual events in both an Olympic Games and World Championships having competed over 1500m, 5000m and 10000m in both global championships.