Deon Kristofer Lendore (28 October 1992 – 10 January 2022) 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 The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

, 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 Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, United States, on 10 January 2022.

Early life and college career

Lendore was born in Mount Hope, Trinidad and Tobago, where he started competing for Abilene Christian Wildcats. He attended Queen's Royal College, and later moved to Texas and attended Texas A&M University, where he competed in the school's track and field team from 2012–2014. In 2014, He won The Bowerman, which is the highest individual honor in

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

track and field. He had won all 14 events in the 2014 season, including the NCAA indoor and outdoor championships. Lendore later worked as a volunteer coach at Texas A&M University, from 2020 until 2022.

Professional career

Lendore's first international event was the 2009 World Youth Championships in Athletics. The year, he was part of the Trinidad and Tobago team that won a silver medal in the 4 × 400 metres relay event at the 2009 Pan American Junior Athletics Championships. In 2010 he competed in the World Athletics U20 Championships. Lendore won a silver medal in the 400 metres at the 2011 Pan American Junior Athletics Championships in Miramar, Florida. He was part of the Trinidad and Tobago team that came third in the 4 × 400 metres relay event at the

in London. He ran the final leg of the relay, and held off Briton Martyn Rooney. Lendore was part of the Trinidad and Tobago team that came second in the 4 × 400 metres relay event at the 2015 World Championships in Athletics in

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

, China. Lendore competed at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

, Brazil, He won a bronze medal at the 400 metres event at the 2016 IAAF World Indoor Championships. He was not selected for the Trinidad and Tobago relay team for the 2017 World Championships in Athletics. Lendore won a bronze medal at the 400 metres event at the 2018 IAAF World Indoor Championships, after two athletes who finished ahead of him were disqualified. He was part of the Trinidad and Tobago team that came fourth in the 4 × 400 metres relay event at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. Later in the year, he was not awarded funding by his country's Incentives and Rewards Framework. He was part of the Trinidad and Tobago team that won the 4 × 400 metres relay event at the 2019 IAAF World Relays in

Yokohama is the List of cities in Japan, second-largest city in Japan by population as well as by area, and the country's most populous Municipalities of Japan, municipality. It is the capital and most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a popu ...

, Japan. In the same year, he was part of the Trinidad and Tobago team that won the 4 × 400 metres relay event at the 2019 Pan American Games. Lendore competed at the delayed

2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

, Japan. In Tokyo, he reached the semi-finals of the 400 metres competition, and was part of the Trinidad and Tobago team that finished eighth in the 4 × 400 metres relay event. Later in the year, he finished third in the 400 metres event at the 2021 Diamond League event in

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

Competition record

Death

On 10 January 2022, Lendore was involved in a car crash on FM 485 in Milam County in

and was pronounced dead at the scene. A statement from the Texas Department of Public Safety said that three vehicles were involved in the collision, and they were investigating the events. His funeral was held on 3 March, and on the same day, Abilene Christian Wildcats announced that they would rename their annual track and field meeting after Lendore.

References

External links

*
Deon Lendore 2014 Bowerman Award Profile
USTFCCCA {{DEFAULTSORT:Lendore, Deon 1992 births 2022 deaths Trinidad and Tobago male sprinters 21st-century Trinidad and Tobago sportsmen Olympic athletes for Trinidad and Tobago Olympic bronze medalists for Trinidad and Tobago Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Texas A&M Aggies men's track and field athletes World Athletics Championships athletes for Trinidad and Tobago World Athletics Championships medalists Sportspeople from Arima Olympic bronze medalists in athletics (track and field) Athletes (track and field) at the 2019 Pan American Games Pan American Games bronze medalists for Trinidad and Tobago Pan American Games bronze medalists in athletics (track and field) World Athletics Indoor Championships medalists Medalists at the 2019 Pan American Games Commonwealth Games competitors for Trinidad and Tobago Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics Road incident deaths in Texas Deaths of competitors in athletics NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships winners