George Kerr (athlete)
George Ezekiel Kerr ( born October 16, 1937 in Hanover Parish, † 15 June 2012) was a Jamaican sprinter and middle-distance runner. At the Pan American Games in 1959 and the Summer Olympics 1960, he went to the West Indies Federation, who belonged to Jamaica at the time.
Career
At age 19, Kerr launched as the newest member of the six-member Jamaican team at the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne in the 400 - meter dash and the 4 x 400 - meter relay. About 400 meters he left in the quarter-final round in fourth place its run. With the season he reached the final, however. The Jamaican team arrived there in 3:11,3 minutes on the sixth and last place, but was later disqualified because Kerr had the German runner Walter Supreme Disabled foul on the second round. In the British Empire and Commonwealth Games in 1958 in Cardiff, he started in the 440- yard run and reached the semi-final round.
Kerr attended from 1958 to 1960, the University of Illinois at Urbana -Champaign, where he was for the team the Fighting Illini 1959 NCAA champion in the 880 - yard run and 1960 in the 800 -meter run. His first international medals he won at the Pan American Games in 1959 in Chicago for a year before created West Indies Federation. He won over 400 meters in 46.1 seconds before his compatriots Basil Ince and Malcolm Spence. Together with the two and Melville Spence he also secured the gold medal in the 4 x 400 - meter relay.
At the Olympic Games in Rome in 1960 Kerr won two bronze medals. In the semifinals of the 800 -meter run, he presented with 1:47,1 minutes (according to electronic timekeeping 1:47,26 minutes) an Olympic record. The same time, he also scored in the final ( electronically 1:47,25 minutes ), but the then relatively unknown New Zealander Peter Snell had to ( 1:46,3 / 1:46,48 minutes ) and the world record holder Roger Moens of Belgium ( beaten 1:46,5 / 1:46,55 minutes). In the 4 x 400 - meter relay Kerr led the team of the West Indies Federation to Malcolm Spence, James Wedderburn and Keith Gardner -cage rotor in 3:04,0 ( 3:04,13 ) minutes another bronze medal. The victory secured the American squadron in a new world record time of 3:02,2 ( 3:02,37 ) minutes before the all-German team ( 3:02,7 / 3:02,84 minutes). As the West Indies Federation was dissolved in 1962 again, it remained the only two Olympic medals for the short-lived Caribbean country.
Kerr, again starting for Jamaica, won at the Central American and Caribbean Games in 1962 in Kingston, the title in the 400 - and 800 - meter dash and the 4 x 400 - meter relay. Such a triple was previously only his legendary compatriot Arthur Wint succeeded at the games in 1946 in Barranquilla. Shortly after his triumph Kerr married his college acquaintance Bernice Wright, before he left in the same year to the British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Perth. There he won the gold medal in the 440 yards and took over 880 yards rank second behind Peter Snell.
At the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 1964 Kerr was about 800 meters and the 4 x 400 relay fourth positions respectively. Especially in the 800 -meter run, he missed a podium result of the narrowest of margins. It was measured simultaneously with the third-placed Wilson Kiprugut in 1:45,9 minutes, which won the first Olympic medal in the history of Kenya. Last occupied Kerr at the British Empire and Commonwealth Games in 1966 in Kingston on the 880 - yard - line in third place behind the New Zealander Noel Clough and Wilson Kiprugut, and fourth place with the Jamaican 4 x 440- yard relay team.
In addition to his international successes Kerr collected in the championships of the West Indies Federation a total of five titles: three in the 800 -meter run (1957, 1959, 1960) and one each in the 400 - meter dash (1959) and in the 1500 -meter run ( 1964). George Kerr was 1.80 m tall and had a competition weight of 70 kg.