Arthur Stanley Wint OD MBE was a Jamaican Royal Air Force (RAF) pilot during the Second World War, sprinter, physician, and later High Commissioner to the United Kingdom. Competing at the 1948 and 1952 Olympics, whilst a medical student at St Bartholomew's Hospital, London, he won two gold and two silver medals, becoming the first Jamaican Olympic gold medalist.
Asafa PowellCD is a retired Jamaican sprinter who specialised in the 100 metres. He set the 100 metres world record twice, between June 2005 and May 2008 with times of 9.77 and 9.74 seconds. Powell has consistently broken the 10-second barrier in competition, with his personal best of 9.72 s ranking fourth on the all-time list of men's 100-metre athletes. As of 1 September 2016, Powell has broken the ten-second barrier more times than anyone else—97 times. He currently holds the world record for the 100-yard dash with a time of 9.09 s, set on 27 May 2010 in Ostrava, Czech Republic. In 2016, he became Olympic champion in the 4 x 100 metres relay.
The 4 × 100 metres relay or sprint relay is an athletics track event run in lanes over one lap of the track with four runners completing 100 metres each. The first runners must begin in the same stagger as for the individual 400 m race. Each runner carries a relay baton. Before 2018, the baton had to be passed within a 20 m changeover box, preceded by a 10-metre acceleration zone. With a rule change effective November 1, 2017, that zone was modified to include the acceleration zone as part of the passing zone, making the entire zone 30 metres in length. The outgoing runner cannot touch the baton until it has entered the zone, and the incoming runner cannot touch it after it has left the zone. The zone is usually marked in yellow, frequently using lines, triangles or chevrons. While the rule book specifies the exact positioning of the marks, the colours and style are only "recommended". While most legacy tracks will still have the older markings, the rule change still uses existing marks. Not all governing body jurisdictions have adopted the rule change.
The 4 × 400 metres relay or long relay is an athletics track event in which teams consist of four runners who each complete 400 metres or one lap, totaling 1600 meters. It is traditionally the final event of a track meet. The first leg and the first bend of the second leg are run in lanes. Start lines are thus staggered over a greater distance than in an individual 400 metres race; the runners then typically move to the inside of the track. The slightly longer 4 × 440 yards relay, on an Imperial distance, was a formerly run British Commonwealth and American event, until metrication was completed in the 1970s.
Brigitte Ann Foster-Hylton is a Jamaican 100m hurdler. She was the World Champion over 100m hurdles in 2009.
Jamaica competed at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. 36 competitors, 22 men and 14 women, took part in 23 events in 5 sports.
Christine Ijeoma Ohuruogu, MBE is a British former track and field athlete who specialised in the 400 metres, the event for which she is an Olympic, World and Commonwealth champion. The Olympic champion in 2008, and silver medalist in 2012, she is a double World Champion, having won the 400 m at the 2007 and 2013 World Championships. She has also won six World championship medals in the women's 4 × 400 m relay as part of the Great Britain and Northern Ireland team and bronze Olympic medals in the women's 4 × 400 m relay at the 2008 Beijing Games and the 2016 Rio Games, her final Olympics. Ohuruogu shares with Merlene Ottey and Usain Bolt the record for medalling in most successive global championships – 9 – between the 2005 World Championships in Athletics and the 2016 Summer Olympics.
Usain St. Leo Bolt is a Jamaican retired sprinter who is widely considered to be the greatest sprinter of all time. He is an eight-time Olympic gold medalist and the world record holder in the 100 metres, 200 metres, and 4 × 100 metres relay.
Oscar Leonard Carl Pistorius is a South African convicted murderer and former professional sprinter. He was the 10th athlete to compete at both the Paralympic Games and Olympic Games. Pistorius ran in both nondisabled sprint events and in sprint events for below-knee amputees. Both of his legs were amputated below the knee when he was 11 months old as a result of a congenital defect; he was born missing the outside of both feet and both fibulas. Pistorius' athletic career ended when he was convicted of murder in 2015. He was first convicted of culpable homicide of his then-girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, which was subsequently upgraded to murder upon appeal.
Kirani Zeno James COG is a Grenadian professional sprinter who specializes in the 400 metres. He won the 400 m at the World Championships in 2011 and won the gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics. In the 400 metres, James also won the silver medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics and a bronze medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, thus becoming the first man to earn the full set of three medals in the centennial history of the event. He is Grenada's first Olympic medalist. He holds the Grenadian national record in both the 200 metres and 400 metres.
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce is a Jamaican track and field sprinter competing in the 60 metres, 100 m and 200 m. She is widely regarded as one of the greatest sprinters of all time.
The swimming competitions at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London took place from 28 July to 4 August at the Aquatics Centre. The open-water competition took place from 9 to 10 August in Hyde Park.
The women's 4 × 400 metres relay competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom was held at the Olympic Stadium on 10–11 August. 2012
Somalia participated at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom, which took place from 27 July to 12 August 2012. The country's participation in London marked its ninth appearance in the Summer Olympics since its debut at the 1972 Summer Olympics. The delegation included one short-distance sprinter and one long-distance runner: Mohamed Hassan Mohamed and Zamzam Mohamed Farah. Both qualified for the games through wildcard places from the International Association of Athletics Federations. Farah was selected as the flag bearer for both the opening and closing ceremonies. Mohamed and Farah failed to advance beyond the heat stage of their respective events.
Shaunae Miller-Uibo is a Bahamian track and field sprinter who competes in the 200 and 400 metres. She is a two-time Olympic champion after winning the women's 400 metres at the 2016 Rio Olympics and again at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Warren Weir is a retired Jamaican sprinter, who specialized in the 200 metres. He was the bronze medallist in the event at the 2012 London Olympics, helping Jamaica sweep the medals. In 2013 at the Moscow World Championships, Warren Weir won the silver medal equalling his personal best. He finished behind Usain Bolt who set a World Leading time. His personal best is 19.79 seconds set at the National Stadium in his home country Kingston, Jamaica. He has since equalled his personal best in Moscow, in the World Championship final. He trained with the Glen Mills-coached Racers Track Club, alongside Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake.
Rusheen McDonald is a Jamaican sprinter. Competing at the 2012 Summer Olympics, Rusheen was in the 400 metres and 4 x 400 metres relay.
Wayde van Niekerk is a South African track and field sprinter who competes in the 200 and 400 metres. In the 400 metres, he is the current world and Olympic record holder, having set the record when he won the event at the 2016 Olympics.
Jamaica competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, from August 5 to 21, 2016. This marked its sixteenth Summer Olympic appearance as an independent nation, although it had previously competed in four other editions as a British colony, and as part of the West Indies Federation.
Shericka Jackson is a Jamaican sprinter competing in the 60 m, 100 m, 200 m, and 400 metres. In the 100 m, she’s the fifth fastest woman of all time, while in the 200 m, she’s the second fastest woman in history.
