Friday 13 July 2007

Barbados’ First World Champion Athlete


* Photo from IAAF website

Barbados is the island of cricket, producing more cricketing greats and test players than any other country based on its size. However, when it comes to atheletics, we have never produced a world champion; the closest we have come being James Wedderburn’s bronze in the 4 x 400 metres relay as part of the British West Indies team at the 1960 Rome Olympics, Obadele Thompson’s bronze in the 100 metres at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and Ryan Brathwaite’s silver medal in the 110 metres hurdles at the 2005 World Youth Championships in Marrakech.

Well all that changed yesterday when 17- year old Shane Brathwaite won the octathlon at the Fifth IAAF World Youth Championships in Ostrava, Czech Republic. The St. James Secondary School student who comes from Spooner’s Hill, St. Michael registered a new personal best record along the way and made his country proud. Congratulations to the young man.

The Barbados Nation and the IAAF have articles on Brathwaite's triumph.

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