Kirani James (born 1 September 1992) is a Grenadian professional sprinter who specializes in the

200 __NOTOC__ Year 200 ( CC) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Severus and Victorinus (or, less frequently, year 953 ''Ab ur ...

and

400 metres The 400 metres, or 400-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor running track, it is o ...

. He won the 400 m at the World Championships in 2011 and the 2012 London Olympics. In the

James also won the silver medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics and bronze medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, thus becoming the first man to earn three medals in the centennial history of the event. He is

Grenada Grenada ( ; Grenadian Creole French: ) is an island country in the West Indies in the Caribbean Sea at the southern end of the Grenadines island chain. Grenada consists of the island of Grenada itself, two smaller islands, Carriacou and Pet ...

's first and only Olympic medalist. Prodigious from a young age, he ran the fastest 400 m times ever by a 14-year-old and a 15-year-old. He won a series of

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have be ...

s at the

CARIFTA Games The CARIFTA Games is an annual athletics competition founded by the Caribbean Free Trade Association (CARIFTA). The games was first held in 1972 and consists of track and field events including sprint races, hurdles, middle distance track eve ...

and the

Commonwealth Youth Games The Commonwealth Youth Games (CYG) is an international multi-sport event organized by the Commonwealth Games Federation. The games were held in the years, mid-way between when the Commonwealth Games are held, until 2008. They continued to be held ...

and rose on the international stage with 400 m

silver medal A silver medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, et ...

s at the 2007 World Youth and 2008 World Junior Championships. James became the first athlete to run a 200/400 double at the 2009 World Youth Championships and was the 2010 World Junior Champion. James received an

athletic scholarship An athletic scholarship is a form of scholarship to attend a college or university or a private high school awarded to an individual based predominantly on his or her ability to play in a sport. Athletic scholarships are common in the United ...

at the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and largest of the publ ...

and won back-to-back NCAA Outdoor Championship titles in his first two years. He is the third fastest of all-time indoors (44.80 seconds) and ran a personal best of 43.74 at a 2014 Diamond League event in Lausanne. James is one of only eleven athletes (along with Valerie Adams,

Usain Bolt Usain St. Leo Bolt, , (; born 21 August 1986) is a retired Jamaican sprinter, widely considered to be the greatest sprinter of all time. He is the world record holder in the 100 metres, 200 metres, and 4 × 100 metres relay. An eight-ti ...

Veronica Campbell-Brown Veronica Campbell-Brown CD ( Campbell; born 15 May 1982) is a retired Jamaican track and field sprinter, who specialized in the 100 and 200 meters.

Jacques Freitag Jacques Freitag (born 11 June 1982) is a South African high jumper. He is one of only ten athletes (along with Valerie Adams, Usain Bolt, Veronica Campbell-Brown, Yelena Isinbayeva, Kirani James, Jana Pittman, Dani Samuels, David Storl and F ...

Yelena Isinbayeva Yelena Gadzhievna Isinbayeva ( rus, Елена Гаджиевна Исинбаева, p=jɪˈlʲɛnə gɐˈdʐɨjɪvnə ɪsʲɪnˈbajɪvə; born 3 June 1982) is a Russian former pole vaulter. She is a two-time Olympic gold medalist (2004 and 20 ...

Jana Pittman Jana Pittman (born 9 November 1982) is an Australian former athlete. During her athletic career Pittman specialised in the 400 metres run and 400-metre hurdles events. She is a two-time world champion in the 400 m hurdles, from 2003 and 2007. S ...

Dani Samuels Dani Stevens (née Samuels, born 26 May 1988) is a retired Australian discus thrower who in 2009 became the youngest ever female world champion in the event. She is the current national and Oceanian record holder. Stevens qualified for the 2020 ...

David Storl David Storl (born 27 July 1990) is a German track and field athlete who specialises in the shot put. He was successful on the youth and junior athletics circuit, winning gold medals at the World Youth Championships and World Junior Championshi ...

Armand Duplantis Armand Gustav "Mondo" Duplantis (born 10 November 1999) is an American-born Swedish pole vaulter, the current world outdoor and indoor record holder ( and ), the current Olympic and World outdoor and indoor champion, the current European outd ...

and Faith Kipyegon) to win world championships at the youth, junior, and senior level of an athletic event.

Career

Youth career. Kirani James attended the Grenada Boys' Secondary School at age 12. He was always considered as a promising athlete from since he first arrived at the scenes in the 400 and 200m in the Intercol games. At the age of 14 James won the gold medal in the 400 m at the

2007 CARIFTA Games The 36th CARIFTA Games was held in the National Stadium on the island of Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands, on April 7–9, 2007. Detailed reports on the results were given. Participation (unofficial) Result lists can be found ...

in the under 17 category with a time of 47.86 seconds. He went on to win

s at the 2007 World Youth Championships with a time of 46.96 s, a time which is the fastest run by a 14-year-old. In April 2008 he defended his CARIFTA 400 m title, winning the

200 metres The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slightl ...

with a time of 21.38 s. In July of that year, he won a silver medal at the 2008 World Junior Championships with a time of 45.70 s, which was his personal best, and a national youth and junior record. In October, he won the

at the

2008 Commonwealth Youth Games The 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games (Hindi: 2008 कॉमनवेल्थ यूथ गेम्स), officially known as the III Commonwealth Youth Games, and commonly known as Pune 2008, a regional sporting event that was held from 12 to 18 O ...

with a new games record of 46.66 s. James made his third

appearance in

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; Protests ...

and, in his under-20 debut, he defeated the defending 400 m champion and fellow Grenadian

Rondell Bartholomew Rondell Bartholomew (born 7 April 1990) is a Grenadian track and field sprinter who specialises in the 400 metres. He has represented his country at two World Championships in Athletics and was a 400 m world finalist in 2011. His person ...

to win in a personal best of 45.45 s. This easily set a new championship record, beating

's six-year-old mark of 46.35 s.Finisterre, Terry (12 April 2009)
James' 45.45sec beats Bolt's mark; Nero well inside 27yr-old record – CARIFTA Games, Day 2

IAAF World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body fo ...

. Retrieved 13 April 2009. In consequence, he was awarded the Austin Sealy Trophy for the most outstanding athlete of the games. James became the first youth athlete to complete a 200/400 metres double gold at the

2009 World Youth Championships in Athletics The 2009 World Youth Championships in Athletics is the sixth edition of the IAAF World Youth Championships in Athletics. They were held at Brixen-Bressanone Sport Arena in Bressanone, Italy from 8–12 July 2009. Athletes had to be aged 16 or ...

. Noting that he would be a junior athlete for a further two years, he focused on upcoming events, pinpointing the

2010 World Junior Championships in Athletics The 2010 World Junior Championships in Athletics was an international athletics competition for athletes under the age of 20 which was held at the Moncton Stadium in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada from 19 to 25 July 2010. A total of 44 athlet ...

and the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, th ...

as future goals. Following this, he won the 400 m at the

2009 Pan American Junior Championships The 2009 Pan American Junior Championships were held in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago at the Hasely Crawford Stadium on July 31 to August 2, 2009. A report on the results was given. Participation (unofficial) Detailed result lists ca ...

. He was declared the 2009 Grenada Sportsman of the Year.

College athletics

At least ten colleges in the United States had expressed strong interest in recruiting James for their track team, including Baylor,

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = " Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County , LargestMetro = Greater Birmingham , area_total_km2 = 135,7 ...

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

Florida State Florida State University (FSU) is a public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher education in the sta ...

, and

Arizona State Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...

. He accepted a scholarship offer from Alabama and in his first-ever appearance on an indoor track he ran a 45.79 in the 400 meters, placing first and breaking the 10-year-old school record of 46.46 held by Cori Loving. James ran a new indoor personal best of 20.94 in the 200 m dash at the Texas A&M Challenge at

Gilliam Indoor Track Stadium The Gilliam Indoor Track Stadium is the home of the Texas A&M Aggies men's and women's collegiate indoor track and field teams. Opened on January 24, 2009, the facility hosted the 2009 Big 12 Conference indoor track championships as well as the 20 ...

College Station, Texas College Station is a city in Brazos County, Texas, situated in East-Central Texas in the heart of the Brazos Valley, towards the eastern edge of the region known as the Texas Triangle. It is northwest of Houston and east-northeast of Austin. ...

on 13 February 2010. He was runner-up at the NCAA Indoor Championships, finishing behind

Torrin Lawrence Torrin Lawrence (April 11, 1989 – July 28, 2014) was an American sprinter who competed in the 400 meters. He ran for the University of Georgia. Career Torrin attended Andrew Jackson High School in Jacksonville, Florida, though he did not sta ...

. James lowered his 400 m personal best to 45.02 s at the 2010 CARIFTA Games, where he took a 200/400 m double, and improved further to 45.01 in winning the

SEC Championships The Southeastern Conference (SEC) sponsors nine men's sports and twelve women's sports. This is a list of conference champions for each sport. Also see the list of SEC national champions. Members The SEC was established on December 1932, when ...

400 m title. He claimed the gold medal over 400 m at the

, but stated he was only running for times and was not satisfied with his winning performance of 45.89 seconds. He won the NCAA Outdoor Championship title in his first year of collegiate competition. James moved up to third on the all-time indoor lists in February 2011, recording 44.80 seconds to win at the SEC Indoor Championships. This left only Michael Johnson and

Kerron Clement Kerron Stephon Clement (born October 31, 1985) is a Trinidadian-born American track and field athlete who competes in the 400-meter hurdles and 400-meter sprint. He held the indoor world record in the 400-meter sprint, having broken Michael Jo ...

as the faster athletes indoors, and also bettered

LaShawn Merritt LaShawn Merritt (born June 27, 1986) is an American track and field athlete who competes in sprinting events, specializing in the 400 metres. He is a former Olympic champion over the distance and his personal best of 43.65 seconds makes him the ...

's previous world best junior time of 44.93 seconds. He failed to reach the podium at the NCAA Indoor meet as he clashed with another athlete and fell mid-race. He managed to repeat as the collegiate champion outdoors, however, as he edged ahead of

Gil Roberts Gil Roberts (born March 15, 1989) is an American athlete who specializes in the 200 m and 400 m. He competed for Texas Tech under coach Wes Kittley at the NCAA level. He was a member of the USA team that won the gold medal in the Men's 4×400 m ...

by one hundredth of a second. After the end of the college season, he made his professional debut at the

London Grand Prix The London Diamond League, formerly known as the London Grand Prix and subsequently as the Anniversary Games, is an annual athletics event held in London, England. Previously one of the five IAAF Super Grand Prix events, it is now part of the Di ...

Diamond League The Diamond League is an annual series of elite track and field athletic competitions comprising fourteen of the best invitational athletics meetings. The series sits in the top tier of the World Athletics (formerly known as the IAAF) one-day mee ...

meeting and established himself among the world's best with a personal best run of 44.61 seconds – a time which made him the fastest man that year.

Professional career

At the 2011 World Championships in Daegu, South Korea, both James and fellow Grenadian runner Rondell Bartholomew made the finals of the 400 metres event. James won the event in a personal best of 44.60 seconds, becoming the youngest 400 metres world champion at the age of 18. The medal was the first for Grenada in any event at the World Championships in Athletics.Adrian, Jad (2011-08)
Kirani James World Champion 400m 44.60s (Video)
www.adriansprints.com. Retrieved 31 August 2011. Nine days later, James won the 400 metres at the 2011 IAAF Diamond League meet in Zürich with a new personal best of 44.36 seconds. At the London 2012 Olympics, James won the second 400 metres semi-final, achieving a season best of 44.59 seconds. At the end of the race, James exchanged name tags with double-amputee runner

Oscar Pistorius Oscar Leonard Carl Pistorius (; ; born 22 November 1986) is a South African convicted murderer and former professional sprinter. Both of his feet were amputated when he was 11 months old owing to a congenital defect; he was born missing the ...

as a sign of respect for him. On 6 August 2012, James won the 400 metres Olympic gold in a time of 43.94, a national record, earning Grenada its first-ever Olympic medal and becoming the first non-US runner to break the 44-second mark. World record holder Michael Johnson said, following the race, that James stood a chance of beating his record if he was able to deal with the remaining flaws in his technique. James described his win as "a huge step for our country in terms of stepping up to the plate in track and field, just going out there and putting us on the map". His domestic reception proved to be a euphoric one. Thousands lined the streets in preparation of his return, and he was greeted with an emphatic and vociferous national pride. Also upon his arrival the Prime Minister, Dr.Keith Mitchell announced Mr. James would be bequeathed government bonds totaling up to EC500,000, a commemorative stamp be crafted in his honor, a new stadium be named for him, and that he would be appointed a tourism ambassador. In December 2012, James and Jamaica's Usain Bolt were named co-sportsmen of the year by '' Caribbean Journal''. On 3 July 2014, at the

Athletissima Athletissima is an annual athletics meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland. Previously one of the five IAAF Super Grand Prix events, it is now part of the Diamond League. The first edition was held on 8 July 1977 in the Stade Pierre de Coubertin. In 1 ...

meet in

Lausanne , neighboring_municipalities= Bottens, Bretigny-sur-Morrens, Chavannes-près-Renens, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Crissier, Cugy, Écublens, Épalinges, Évian-les-Bains (FR-74), Froideville, Jouxtens-Mézery, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, Lugrin (FR ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

, he improved his personal best to 43.74, equaling the fifth fastest time in history, and the fastest by a non-U.S.A. athlete. On 17 November 2014, James and Jamaica's Kaliese Spencer were named the sportsman and sportswoman of the year respectively by the Caribbean Sports Journalists' Association. At the 2015 World Championships, James won a bronze medal in the first World Championship 400 metres race where three men broke 44 seconds. At the Rio 2016 Olympics, he won the silver medal in the 400 metres in a time of 43.76, behind

Wayde van Niekerk Wayde van Niekerk (South African English: , ; born 15 July 1992) is a South African track and field Sprint (running), sprinter who competes in the 200 metres, 200 and 400 metres. In the 400 metres, he is the current world record, world and ...

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

43.03. The following year, James raced sparingly and was diagnosed with Graves' disease. At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Kirani James earned a bronze medal in the Men's 400m finals, finishing 3rd behind Colombia's Anthony Zambrano (Silver) and Steven Gardiner of The Bahamas (Gold). In doing so, he denied U.S.A favorite Michael Norman a place on the podium. He was appointed

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(CBE) in the

2022 New Year Honours The 2022 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 15 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrations ...

for services to Sport.

Statistics

Personal bests

International competitions

Circuit wins

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** Weltklasse Zürich:

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Shanghai Golden Grand Prix The Diamond League Shanghai is an annual athletics event at the Shanghai Stadium in Shanghai, China as part of the Diamond League. The meeting was founded as the Shanghai Golden Grand Prix in 2005. The meet assumed its current name in 2010. From ...

Meeting de Paris Meeting de Paris (formerly known as the Meeting Areva and Meeting Gaz de France) is an annual track and field meeting at the Stade Sébastien Charléty in Paris, France. Previously one of the IAAF Golden League events, it is now part of the Diamon ...

Prefontaine Classic The Prefontaine Classic, an Oregon Track Club event, is one of the premier track and field meets in the United States, held in Eugene, Oregon. Every year it draws a world caliber field to compete at Hayward Field on the campus of the Universi ...

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** Birmingham Grand Prix:

BAUHAUS-galan BAUHAUS-galan, formerly known as DN-Galan is an annual, international athletics meeting that takes place at the Olympic Stadium in Stockholm. Previously it was one of the five IAAF Super Grand Prix events until 2010, and has since been part of th ...

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References

External links

* *
Kirani James wins the 2012 Olympic Games men's 400 metres final in 43.94 seconds
via the

Olympic Channel Olympic Channel is an over-the-top Internet television service operated by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). It was launched on August 21, 2016, alongside the closing of the 2016 Summer Olympics. The service aims to maintain year-round ...

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:James, Kirani 1992 births Living people Grenadian male sprinters Olympic athletes of Grenada Olympic gold medalists for Grenada Olympic silver medalists for Grenada Olympic bronze medalists for Grenada Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics World Athletics Championships athletes for Grenada World Athletics Championships medalists Athletes (track and field) at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Alabama Crimson Tide men's track and field athletes People from Saint John Parish, Grenada Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Grenada Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field) Olympic silver medalists in athletics (track and field) Olympic bronze medalists in athletics (track and field) Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics Diamond League winners World Athletics Championships winners Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Medallists at the 2014 Commonwealth Games