Personal information | |||||||||||||||
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Full name | Wendell Adrian Mottley | ||||||||||||||
Nationality | Trinidad and Tobago | ||||||||||||||
Born | Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago | 2 July 1941||||||||||||||
Education | Queen's Royal College Yale University University of Cambridge | ||||||||||||||
Occupation(s) | Economist and Politician | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Wendell Adrian Mottley ORTT (born 2 July 1941) is a Trinidad and Tobago economist, politician and athlete. [1] Mottley served as Senator and member of the House of Representatives with the Trinidad and Tobago Parliament and was Minister of Finance from 1991 to 1995. [2] He was an Ivy League sprinter, winning two Olympic medals in 1964. [3]
Mottley was born in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. He was the youngest of four brothers who were all runners. [3] As a youngster, he began to run in competitions sponsored local oil companies. [4] He attended Queen's Royal College, an elite public high school in Port of Spain. [3] While competing in a high school track meet, the coach from Loughborough University suggested that Mottley would be of interest to his friend who coached track at Yale University. [4]
Mottley attended Yale University, graduating in economics in 1964. [3] While at Yale, he made the dean's list, was captain of the track team, and joined St. Anthony Hall. [5] [3] [4] He was the first person of colour to join St. Anthony Hall, nationwide. [6]
He earned a master's degree in economics from St Catharine's College at the University of Cambridge. [5] While at Cambridge, Mottley was captain of the track team and became lifelong friends with the Oxford team's captain, later the novelist Jeffrey Archer. [3] [7]
Mottley was a sprinter for Yale University track team. [3] His coach was Bob Giegengack, also the track coach for Team USA in the 1964 Summer Olympics. [4] In addition to sprinting, Giegengack had Mottley run cross country, "which he hated". [4]
Mottley participated in three Heptagonal Games Championships between 1962 and 1964, winning the 440y each year. [3] In the mid-1960s, Mottley was the fastest man in Yale University and Ivy League history. [3] He still is the record holder in the 500m/600y at Yale. [3] Mottley also set indoor world records for the 400-yard, 500-yard, and 600-yard distances in 1964. [3] His personal best time of 45.2 stands as the Ivy League record for the 440y/400 meter event. [3] One writer notes, "In his time he was not only the best long sprinter in the Ivy League but also one of the best in the world." [3] In 1964, Mottley set indoor world records for the 400-yard, 500-yard, and 600-yard distances. [3]
At the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Mottley won a silver medal for the 400 meters and a bronze medal for the 4 x 400 meters relay, representing Trinidad and Tobago. [8] [1] After the race where he won the silver medal, Mottley says Giegengack gave him a salute. [4]
After the Olympics, Mottley ran track for Cambridge University and competed in the European circuit. [3] He also took two gold medals at the 1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Jamaica, winning in the 440 yards and the 4×440 yards relay events. [5] [9] The relay team set the Commonwealth Games record for the 4x440y. [3]
Mottley was elected as Senator to the Trinidad and Tobago 2nd Republican Parliament from 1981 to 1986, and was appointed Minister of Housing and Resettlement from 1981 to 1985. [5] [10] He was then appointed Minister of Industry and Commerce, serving from 1985 to 1986. [10]
As a member of the People's National Party, he was elected to the House of Representatives for the 4th Republication Parliament, from 1992 to 1995. [5] [2] [10] From 1992 to 1994, he was Minister of Finance. [10] He was responsible for the flotation of the Trinidad and Tobago dollar. [11] He also founded the Civilian Conservation Corps in Trinidad and Tobago. [12] He was Minister of Tourism from 1994 to 1995. [10]
In the early 2000s, Mottley was the leader of the Citizens' Alliance, a dissolved minor political party in Trinidad and Tobago. [13] His party received 5,955 votes (1%) and captured no seats in the 2002 general election. [14]
After Cambridge, Mottley worked in London, before returning to Trinidad and Tobago, where he developed a career in housing development. [3] [7] In 1996, Mottley became an investment banker at Credit Suisse in New York, serving as managing director and senior advisor over the course of fifteen years. [15] [9] [16]
Mottley was a visiting fellow at the Center for Global Development, a United States–based think tank, where he contributed Trinidad and Tobago--industrial policy 1959–2008 : a Historical and Contemporary Analysis in 2008. [17]
Later, he was chairman of the board of the Unit Trust Corporation, the Caribbean's largest mutual fund company. [5] [9]
He serves on the board of the Pan-American Life Insurance Group from 2013 to his retirement in 2021. [9] [16] He had reached the board's mandatory retirement age of 80. [16]
Mottley served on the board of World Wildlife Fund and the Asa Wright Bird Foundation, a Caribbean environmentalist group. [3] He is also a member of the Yale School of Forestry leadership council. [3]
On 1 November 2018, Mottley received the Order of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago (ORTT) for his contribution to national development and public service. [18] [9]
Citizens Alliance is a defunct political party in Trinidad and Tobago. Former finance minister Wendell Mottley was leader and businessman Peter George was deputy leader. In the 2002 general election, the party received 5,955 votes (1.0%) and captured no seats.
Trinidad and Tobago first participated in the Summer Olympic Games in 1948, before they attained their independence from Great Britain. Despite being a small nation in the Caribbean, Trinidad and Tobago has been able to place themselves firmly in international sports. In 1946, Sir Lennox O’Reilly organized the nation’s first Olympic committee. Trinidad and Tobago have participated in sixteen Summer Olympiads and four Winter Olympics.
The men's 400 metres was the third-shortest of the men's track races in the Athletics at the 1964 Summer Olympics program in Tokyo. It was held on 17 October, 18 October, and 19 October 1964. 55 athletes from 36 nations entered, with 5 not starting in the first round. The first two rounds were held on 17 October, with the semifinals on 18 October and the final on 19 October. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by 0.1 seconds by Mike Larrabee of the United States, the third consecutive and tenth overall victory for an American in the event. Trinidad and Tobago and Poland each earned their first medal in the 400 metres.
Trinidad and Tobago competed at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. Five track and field athletes and two cyclists represented Trinidad and Tobago. The team was headed by chef de mission Hasely Crawford, the winner of the gold medal in the 100 metres at the 1976 Summer Olympics.
Athletes from Trinidad and Tobago competed at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. This marked the return of Trinidad and Tobago to the Olympic Games as a separate nation, after having competed as part of the British West Indies at the 1960 Summer Olympics. Thirteen competitors, all men, took part in ten events in four sports.
Aaron Nigel Armstrong is a track and field sprint athlete who competes internationally for Trinidad and Tobago. He is the 2008 Olympic champion in 4 × 100 metres relay.
Robert Ian Brightwell MBE was a British track and field athlete and silver medallist.
Kent Bede Bernard is a Trinidadian athlete who competed mainly in the 400 metres.
Edwin Joseph Skinner was a Trinidadian athlete who competed mainly in the 400 metres.
Edwin Anthony Roberts is a retired Trinidadian runner. He competed at the 1964, 1968 and 1972 Olympics in various sprint events and had his best results in the 200 m, in which he finished third in 1964 and fourth in 1968. He also won a bronze medal in the 4 × 400 m relay in 1964.
Michael Solomon is a retired sprinter from Trinidad and Tobago.
Keston Bledman, HBM is a track and field sprint athlete, who competes internationally for Trinidad and Tobago.
John Walton Smith is a former American athlete, who competed in the sprints events during his career. He is best known for winning the 400 m event at the 1971 Pan American Games. He remains the world record holder for the 440 yard dash at 44.5 seconds. He set the record while winning the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships on June 26, 1971 while running for the Southern California Striders. The record has stood since then due to metrification in the sport. Contemporary athletes rarely run or are timed officially for the extra 2.34 meters to equal 440 yards.
Trinidad and Tobago competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom from 27 July to 12 August 2012. This was Trinidad and Tobago's most successful Summer Olympics. It was the nation's largest ever delegation sent to the Olympics, with a total of 30 athletes, 21 men and 9 women, in 6 sports. Trinidad and Tobago's participation in these games marked its sixteenth Olympic appearance as an independent nation, although it had previously competed in four other games as a British colony, and as part of the West Indies Federation. The nation was awarded four Olympic medals based on the efforts by the athletes who competed in the track and field. Javelin thrower Keshorn Walcott became the first Trinidadian athlete to win an Olympic gold medal since the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, where Hasely Crawford won for the sprint event. Marc Burns, a four-time Olympic athlete and a relay sprinter who led his team by winning the silver medal in Beijing, was the nation's flag bearer at the opening ceremony.
Deon Kristofer Lendore was a Trinidad and Tobago sprinter who specialised in the 400 metres. He won a bronze medal in the 4 × 400 metres relay event at the 2012 Summer Olympics, and won medals at the Pan American Junior Athletics Championships, World Athletics Championships and World Athletics Indoor Championships. Lendore died in a car collision in Texas, United States, on 10 January 2022.
Lalonde Keida Gordon, HBM is a Tobagonian male track and field sprinter who specialises in the 400 metres. He won the bronze medal at the 2012 London Olympics with a personal best of 44.52 seconds. He is the fourth fastest 400 m runner from his country after Jereem Richards, Machel Cedenio and Ian Morris.
Jereem Richards is a Trinidadian track and field sprinter who specializes in the 200 metres and 400 metres events. He won the bronze medal in the 200 m at the 2017 World Championships in Athletics and gold for the 400 m at the 2022 World Indoor Championships. Richards took 200m titles at both the 2018 and 2022 Commonwealth Games. He was part of the Trinidad and Tobago team that won the bronze medal in the men's 4 × 400 m relay at the 2012 World Indoor Championships and a gold medal at the 2017 World Championships in Athletics.
Jarrin Solomon is a Trinidadian track and field sprinter who specializes in the 400 metres. He was part of the Trinidad and Tobago team that won the bronze medal in the 4 × 400 m relay at the 2012 IAAF World Indoor Championships. Solomon also competed in the 2012 Summer Olympics, where his 4 × 400 m team again won the bronze medal. He was also part of Trinidad and Tobago's 2014 Commonwealth Games 4 x 400 team, where they also won a bronze.
The 1959 British West Indies Championships was the third edition of the track and field competition between British colony nations in the Caribbean. It was held in Georgetown in British Guiana. A total of 27 events were contested, twenty-one by men and six by women. This was the first time that women had been able to compete at the event. Three new men's events were added to the programme: 3000 metres steeplechase, half marathon, and the 3000 metres walk. The latter two were the first road running and racewalking events to be included.
The Ministry of Finance is a cabinet ministry in the Government of Trinidad and Tobago. The head of the ministry is the Minister of Finance and is appointed by the President of Trinidad and Tobago on the advice of the Prime Minister. The incumbent, Mr. Colm Imbert, assumed office on September 11, 2015, and succeeded Mr. Larry Howai following the Trinidad and Tobago general election, 2015.
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