# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/jan-merrill
# Generated: 2026-08-13T05:19:09.641Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/jan-merrill"
name: "Jan Merrill"
slug: "jan-merrill"
description: "Janice \"Jan\" Melbourne Merrill is a retired American runner. She was the dominant long-distance runner of the middle 1970s, a notable front runner, her uniform with the large \"M\" on her chest would usually break away to an insurmountable lead in domestic meets. She was equally untouchable in self-promotion or dealing with the media, often deferring to her coach, Norm Higgins. At various points in time she held the American record in the 1500 meters during the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, the 3,000 meters and 5,000 meters. She lost other record opportunities because the only times she could get a decent race in the United States was against men."
tagline: "American distance runner"
image: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/Jan_Merrill_1975.jpg?width=1200"
gender: "female"
country:
  name: "United States"
  isoCode: "US"
category:
  name: "Athletes"
  slug: "athletes"
profileType:
  name: "Athlete"
  slug: "athlete"
  entityType: "https://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q2066131"
birthDate: "1956-06-18"
livingStatus: "LIVING"
scores:
  popularity:           39.42
  momentum:             15
  historical:           5.470878666666667
  currentAttention:     0
  sourceConfidence:     35
  profileCompleteness:  70
  trendDirection:       "BREAKOUT"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: null
sources:
  - url: "https://bn.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A6%9C%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%AF%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%A8_%E0%A6%AE%E0%A7%87%E0%A6%B0%E0%A6%BF%E0%A6%B2"
    title: "জ্যান মেরিল"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%8A%D8%A7%D9%86_%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%B1%D9%8A%D9%84"
    title: "يان ميريل"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://arz.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%8A%D8%A7%D9%86_%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%B1%D9%8A%D9%84"
    title: "يان ميريل"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Merrill"
    title: "Jan Merrill"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Merrill"
    title: "Jan Merrill"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Merrill"
    title: "Jan Merrill"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q517732"
    title: "Wikidata"
    type:  "WIKIDATA"

# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  Imported from discovery source: wikidata-dump