Arthur Wint

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Olympic medal record
Men's athletics
Gold 1948 London 400 metres
Gold 1952 Helsinki 4x400 m relay
Silver 1948 London 800 metres
Silver 1952 Helsinki 800 metres

Arthur Stanley Wint (March 25, 1920October 19, 1992) was the first Jamaican Olympic gold medallist, winning the 400 m at 1948 Summer Olympics.

Arthur Wint, known as the Gentle Giant, was born in Plowden, Manchester, Jamaica. In 1937 he was the Jamaica Boy Athlete of the year, the following year he won a gold medal in the 800 m at the Central American Games in Panama.

In 1942 he joined the Royal Air Force and set the Canadian 400 m record while training there. He was sent to Britain for active combat during the World War II as a pilot. He left the Royal Air Force in 1947 to attend St Bartholomew's Hospital as a medical student.

In 1948 Wint won Jamaica’s first Olympic gold also setting the world record for the 400 m (46.2) in London, beating his team-mate Herb McKenley. In 800 m he won silver after American Mal Whitfield. He probably missed his third medal in London Games by pulling a muscle in the 4 x 400 m relay final.

In Helsinki 1952 he was part of the historic team setting yet another world record while capturing the gold in 4 x 400 m relay. He also won silver in 800 m, again coming second to Mal Whitfield.

He ran his final race in 1953 at Wembley Stadium, finished his internship, graduated as a doctor and the following year he was made a Member of the British Empire (MBE) by Queen Elizabeth II. In 1955 Wint returned to Jamaica eventually settling in Hanover as the only resident doctor in the parish. In 1973 he was awarded the Jamaica honour of the Order of Distinction. In 1974 he began serving as high commissioner to Britain. He was inducted in the Black Athlete’s Hall of Fame in the US (1977), the Jamaica Sports Hall of Fame (1989) and the Central American & Caribbean Athletic Confederation Hall of Fame (2003).

Arthur Wint died in Linstead, aged 72.

Olympic champions in men's 400 m
1896: Tom Burke | 1900: Maxey Long | 1904: Harry Hillman | 1906: Paul Pilgrim | Wyndham Halswelle | 1912: Charles Reidpath | 1920: Bevil Rudd | 1924: Eric Liddell | 1928: Ray Barbuti | 1932: Bill Carr | 1936: Archie Williams | 1948: Arthur Wint | 1952: George Rhoden | 1956: Charlie Jenkins | 1960: Otis Davis | 1964: Michael Larrabee | 1968: Lee Evans | 1972: Vincent Matthews | 1976: Alberto Juantorena | 1980: Viktor Markin | 1984: Alonzo Babers | 1988: Steve Lewis | 1992: Quincy Watts | 1996: Michael Johnson | 2000: Michael Johnson | 2004: Jeremy Wariner


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