George Rhoden
Jamaican Olympic athlete
Personal information | |
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Full name | George Vincent Rhoden |
Born |
(
1926-12-13
)
13 December 1926
(age
96)
Kingston, Jamaica |
Medal record
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George Vincent Rhoden (born 13 December 1926) [1] is a Jamaican retired athlete , winner of two Olympic gold medals in 1952.
Rhoden was born in Kingston in December 1926. He later moved to San Francisco, California , and was one of the successful long sprinters from Jamaica in the late 1940s and early 1950s, along with Arthur Wint and Herb McKenley . He competed in the 1948 Summer Olympics , but did not win a medal, being eliminated in the heats of the 100 m and the semi-final of the 400 m. He was also a member of the heavily favoured Jamaican 4 × 400 m relay team, but when Wint pulled a muscle in the final, their chances at a medal were gone. On 22 August 1950 at Eskilstuna , Sweden , Rhoden set a new world record in 400 m of 45.8 s. He also won the AAU championships in 400 m from 1949 to 1951 and as a Morgan State University student, won the NCAA championships in 220 yd (200 m) in 1951 and in 440 yd (400 m) from 1950 to 1952. He was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.
At the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki , Rhoden was more successful. As a world record holder he was one of the pre-race favourites in the 400 m which he won in a close battle with his compatriot McKenley, who had also been second in the 1948 Olympic 400 m. [2] As the anchor runner of the Jamaican relay team, Rhoden added a second Olympic gold, edging the United States by a tenth of a second, and setting a new world record (3:03.9). [3]
Competition record
Year | Competition | Venue | Position | Event | Notes |
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Representing Jamaica | |||||
1948 | Olympics | London , United Kingdom | 4th, Heat 1, SF | 400 m | 47.7 |
References
- ↑ Biography and Statistics at Sports Reference Archived 29 July 2009 at the Wayback Machine
- ↑ "RHODEN WINS 400 METER DASH IN 46s" . Los Angeles Times . 16 August 1950.
- ↑ "Jamaica Gleaner - George Rhoden relives Helsinki Games glory - Sunday | June 29, 2003" . Archived from the original on 12 August 2011 . Retrieved 19 March 2010 . Jamaica Gleaner
External links
- George Rhoden at Olympics.com
- George Rhoden at Olympedia
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Central American and Caribbean Games
champions in men's
800 metres
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