Arthur Wint
Arthur Stanley Wint ( born March 25, 1920 in Plowden, Manchester Parish, Jamaica; † 19 October 1992 in Linstead, St. Catherine Parish ) was a Jamaican athlete and the first Olympic champion of the country.
Life
1937 Wint was elected to Jamaica for Youth Athlete of the Year, and in 1938 he won the gold medal in the 800 -meter run at the Central American Games in Panama. In 1942 he went to the Canadian Royal Air Force and placed there during training a new Canadian record in the 400 -meter run on. Then he was transferred to Britain and fought in World War II as a pilot. In 1947 he left the Air Force and started at St Bartholomew 's Hospital, Smithfield, London, to study medicine.
At the XIV Summer Olympic Games in London in 1948, he won the first Olympic gold medal in history over 400 meters with 46.2 s, before the other Jamaican Herb McKenley and the Americans time Whitfield for Jamaica. In the 800 - meter race, he won the silver medal, this time behind Whitfield and ahead of Frenchman Marcel Hansenne. In the XV. Summer Olympic Games in Helsinki in 1952, he won again the silver medal, also back behind time Whitfield and before the German Heinz Ulzheimer, as well as the team gold medal in the 4 x 400 - meter relay, along with his teammates Leslie Laing, Herb McKenley and George Rhoden, before the teams from the USA and from Germany. The Jamaican team presented during this run simultaneously on a new world record.
He ran his last race in 1953 at Wembley Stadium, ending his athletic career. In 1954 he was appointed by Queen Elizabeth II for members of the Order of the British Empire ( MBE). In 1955 he went - after completed training as a physician at St. Bartholomew's Hospital - back to Jamaica and lived in Hanover. Initially, he worked as the only resident doctor in the area; 1978 Wint worked at the Linstead Hospital. He worked as a physician in Linstead until his death in 1992.
In 1974, Arthur Wint Jamaican High Commissioner in the UK, and later his country's ambassador in Denmark and Sweden. In 1977 he was included in the "Black Athlete's Hall of Fame " of the USA and 1989 in the " Jamaica Sports Hall of Fame".