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.
Novlene Hilaire Williams-Mills, is a retired Jamaican track and field athlete. She won the bronze medal in the 400 metres at the 2007 World Championships. She is also a three-time Olympic silver medallist in the 4×400 metres relay. In 2015 she won relay gold alongside her Jamaican teammates.
The Hon. Herbert Henry McKenley OM was a Jamaican track and field sprinter. He competed at the 1948 and 1952 Olympics in six events in total, and won one gold and three silver medals.
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. It is traditionally the final event of a track meet. At top class events, 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.
Michael Blackwood is a Jamaican male track and field athlete, who specialized in the 400 meters, his personal best being 44.60 set during his win at the 2002 IAAF World Cup. He was chosen as the Jamaica Sportsman of the Year in 2002, in that same year he was the world number one rank by IAAF in the 400 meters. He is the brother of Catherine Scott who earned a silver medal in the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. Blackwood won the NAIA national 400 meters title in 1997. He is the winner of Jamaica 400 meters national championships three times. Blackwood holds the Big 12 conference record in the 400 meters since 2000 in the time of 44.69. He is an alumnus of The University of Oklahoma.
Gregory Haughton is a Jamaican 400 metres runner. He won three Olympic medals, one at the 1996 Summer Olympics and two at the 2000 Summer Olympics. His personal best for the 400 m was 44.56 seconds.
Sanjay Claude Ayre is a retired Jamaican sprinter who specialized in the 400 meters. Ayre won a silver medal at the 2000 Summer Olympic Games. Ayre is a 2004 IAAF World Indoor Championship Gold medalist and a three-time World Outdoor Championship medalist.
Davian Clarke is a Jamaican former athlete, who mainly competed in the 400 metres. He won the bronze medal in the 4 x 400 metres relay at the 1996 Olympics, and many relay medals followed, before he won his first individual medal at the 2004 IAAF World Indoor Championships. Davian Clarke is also a graduate of University of Miami Patti & Allan Herbert Business School with Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA).
Bertland "Bert" Cameron is a retired Jamaican sprinter who mainly competed over 400 metres. He represented Jamaica at three consecutive editions of the Summer Olympics. Cameron won the 400 m title at the first World Championships in Athletics. He was also the 1982 Commonwealth Games champion in the event and won a number of gold medals at regional competitions. He helped the Jamaican runners to a silver medal in the 4×400 metres relay at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
Since the early 20th century, Jamaica has won 42 Commonwealth Golds, 14 World Championship Golds and 17 Olympic gold medals in athletics alone. Jamaica has a population of 2.85 million people, making it the 138th most populous country in the world.
The Kansas Relays are a three-day track meet every April, held at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas. Since 1923, the Kansas Relays have attracted runners, throwers, and jumpers from all over the United States of America, bringing in athletes ranging from Olympians to high-schoolers. Olympians such as Marion Jones and Maurice Greene compete in the Gold Zone portion of the meet, which attracts thousands of spectators every year. Competitors have also broken world records at the meet. The 2004 Olympic champion, Justin Gatlin, was a prominent athlete to fail a doping test at the Kansas Relays.
Nickel Ashmeade is a Jamaican sprinter who specialises in the 100 and 200 meters.
Ricardo Chambers is a Jamaican track and field athlete who specialises in the 400 metres.
David Verburg is an American track and field athlete who specializes in the 400 meters. He holds gold medals in the 4 × 400 m relay from the 2016 Olympics; the 2013 and 2015 World Championships; and the 2014 Indoor World Championships.
Janieve Russell is a Jamaican track and field athlete who competes mainly in the 400 metres hurdles and the 400 metres sprint. She won an Olympic bronze medal in the 4 × 400 m relay in Tokyo 2021, where she also finished fourth in the 400m hurdles final in a personal best of 53.08 secs. She is a four-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist, winning the 400m hurdles title in 2018 and 2022, and the 4 × 400 m relay in 2014 and 2018. She has also won two relay silvers at the World Championships and a relay gold at the World Indoor Championships.
The men's 4 × 400 metres relay competition at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil was held at the Estádio Olímpico João Havelange on 19–20 August.
Omar McLeod is a Jamaican professional hurdler and sprinter competing in the 60 m hurdles and 110 m hurdles. In the latter event, he is the 2016 Olympic champion and 2017 World champion. He was NCAA indoor champion in the 60 m hurdles in 2014 and 2015 and outdoor champion in the 110 m hurdles in 2015; he turned professional after the 2015 collegiate season, forgoing his two remaining years of collegiate eligibility. His personal best in the 110 m hurdles ranks him equal 7th on the world all-time list.
Christopher Taylor is a Jamaican 400 metre runner. He won the 400 metres event at the 2015 World Youth Championships in Athletics in Cali, Colombia in 45.27 seconds, a Jamaica Youth Record. Taylor also won the U-18 400 metres at the 2015 CARIFTA Games in a championship record time of 46.64. On March 19, 2016, Christopher Taylor delivered an extraordinary performance at the ISSA High School Championships in Jamaica, breaking national records and making a massive contribution in bringing his school, Calabar High School, to their 7th consecutive victory. He also won the 2018 Jamaica Senior National Championships with a personal best and NJR of 44.88.
The mixed 4 × 400 metres relay at the 2019 World Athletics Championships was held at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha from 28 to 29 September 2019.
The men's 4 × 400 metres relay at the 2019 World Athletics Championships was held at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha, Qatar, from 5 to 6 October 2019.
