Jamie Staff
Kent Connections include: Ashford, Brabourne
Lees, Smeeth, Gravesend, Northfleet
Olympic Sport: Track Cycling: Team
Sprint and Keirin
Olympic Games: 2004, 2008
Sources include:
Jamie Staff was born in Ashford.
He started BMX cycling aged 9 and in 1996 became BMX World
Champion.
In 2002, he made a remarkable switch from BMX to Track Cycling.
In less than a year, he was one of the team of three who gained
Team Sprint Gold medals in the UCI World Championships.
In May 2004, Jamie Staff became an individual World Champion in
the Keirin event at the UCI Track Cycling World Championships. He
also gained aTeam Sprint Bronze medal.
Understandably, his expectations were high for the 2004 Athens
Olympics. However, the 5th place finish for his team in the Team
Sprint was a disappointment and his controversial disqualification
in the 2nd round of the Keirin was a bitter blow.
After a 6 month break from Track Cycling, he made a convincing
comeback, gaining a Team Sprint Gold medal in the 2005 UCI World
Championships.
At the 2008 Olympics, he put his Athens nightmare behind him by
winning a Gold Medal in the Cycling Team Sprint event.
Jamie Staff retired from competitive cycling in March 2010, and in
June of that year moved to California to work as Director
(coach) of Sprint for the USA Cycling Team.
Staff is a champion for the Kent County Council Cyclopark
Project at Gravesend/ Northfleet. He hopes to create a 'Jamie Staff
Academy' on-site for young people to develop their talent:
"I can’t wait to see Cyclopark provide inspiration for
beginners, and hopefully develop Olympic and Paralympic champions
of the future".
