James Wren Gilkes (born 21 September 1952) is a former sprinter from

Guyana Guyana, officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern coast of South America, part of the historic British West Indies. entry "Guyana" Georgetown, Guyana, Georgetown is the capital of Guyana and is also the co ...

who specialised in 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 slight ...

. He competed at two Olympic Games.

Career

He was the 1975 Pan American 200 metre champion, and in

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

he took the silver medal in the same event. He was runner up to Don Quarrie of Jamaica in the 1978

AAA AAA, Triple A, or Triple-A is a three-letter initialism or abbreviation which may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Gaming * AAA (video game industry) - a category of high budget video games *'' TripleA'', an open source wargame Mu ...

's 200 metres event. At the

1978 Commonwealth Games The 1978 Commonwealth Games were held in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, from 3 to 12 August, two years after the 1976 Summer Olympics was held in Montreal, Quebec. They were boycotted by Nigeria, in protest at New Zealand's sporting contacts with a ...

in Edmonton he finished fourth in the 100 metre final, then took the silver medal in the 200 metres, finishing behind

Allan Wells Allan Wipper Wells (born 3 May 1952) is a British former track and field sprinter who became the 100 metres Olympic champion at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. In 1981, he was both the IAAF Golden Sprints and IAAF World Cup gold medall ...

of Scotland. In 1978, Gilkes was denied a world record for the 4x200 m relay; while the Tobias Striders team he was a member of broke the old world record with a time of 1:20.23, but this was rejected as a record because the team members were from different countries. The other members of the team were: Guy Abrahams, Panama; Michael Simmons, USA; and Don Quarrie, Jamaica. The team from the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

( Joel Andrews, James Sanford, William Mullins and Clancy Edwards) that finished second in the same race also broke the old world record: their time of 1:20.26 was accepted as the new world record. In 1979 he took 3rd place in the "Golden sprints" in Zurich. Gilkes would have been a medal favorite in the 200 m (which Don Quarrie won) at the

1976 Olympic Games 1976 Olympics refers to both: *The 1976 Winter Olympics, which were originally to be held in Denver, United States, but relocated to Innsbruck, Austria *The 1976 Summer Olympics The 1976 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of t ...

in Montreal, but Guyana joined the African boycott over New Zealand's rugby team's tour of apartheid South Africa. He applied to the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; , CIO) is the international, non-governmental, sports governing body of the modern Olympic Games. Founded in 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas, it is based i ...

(IOC) for permission to run as an individual under their flag but was denied the request. He also went to the 1980 Olympic Games where he reached the semi-finals of both the

100 100 or one hundred (Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 and preceding 101. In mathematics 100 is the square of 10 (in scientific notation it is written as 102). The standard SI prefix for a hundred is " hecto-". 100 is the b ...

and

before he was eliminated. His personal best time for the 200 metres was 20.14 seconds, achieved in September 1978 in

Ingelheim Ingelheim (), officially Ingelheim am Rhein (), is a town in the Mainz-Bingen Districts of Germany, district in the Rhineland-Palatinate state of Germany. The town sprawls along the Rhine's left bank. It has been Mainz-Bingen's district seat sin ...

. Gilkes studied first at

Fisk University Fisk University is a Private university, private Historically black colleges and universities, historically black Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Nashville, Tennessee. It was founded in 1866 and its campus i ...

then moved to the

(USC). He was an important member of the track team at both colleges. As of 2012, Gilkes was still ranked in the top 10 all-time performers for the USC Trojans at 100 and 200 m, joint 8th and 4th respectively. He enjoyed success for both colleges at the NCAA (USA Collegiate) championships, including a win at 220 yards in 1974: *1974 (for Fisk) – 6th in 100 y; 1st in 220 y *1975 (for USC) – 2nd in 200 m *1976 (for USC) – 3rd in 100 m; 2nd in 200 m. Gilkes joined Fisk University when it started a student transfer program with his native country of Guyana in 1972. Gilkes remained at Fisk University until 1974, when he transferred to USC. He has stated he was not unhappy at Fisk but did not enjoy the Tennessee weather and preferred the sunnier climes of California.

Rankings

Gilkes was ranked in the top ten 100 and 200 m sprinters in the world from 1974 to 1979, according to the votes of the experts of ''

Track and Field News ''Track & Field News'' is an American monthly sports magazine founded in 1948 by brothers Bert Nelson and Cordner Nelson, focused on the world of track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includ ...

''.

USA Championships

Gilkes when in the United States was eligible at that time to compete in the USA National Track and Field Championships. He achieved the feat of finishing second in the 200 m five years running.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gilkes, James 1952 births Living people Guyanese male sprinters Athletes (track and field) at the 1980 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for Guyana Athletes (track and field) at the 1978 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1975 Pan American Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1979 Pan American Games Pan American Games gold medalists for Guyana Pan American Games silver medalists for Guyana Pan American Games gold medalists in athletics (track and field) Pan American Games silver medalists in athletics (track and field) Commonwealth Games silver medallists for Guyana Guyanese people of African descent Fisk University alumni USC Trojans men's track and field athletes Medalists at the 1975 Pan American Games Medalists at the 1979 Pan American Games Medallists at the 1978 Commonwealth Games NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners Commonwealth Games silver medallists in athletics

Career

Rankings

USA Championships

See also

References