Rondell Bartholomew (born 7 April 1990) is a Grenadian

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

sprinter who specialises in the

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 ...

. He has represented his country at two

World Championships in Athletics The World Athletics Championships, known as the IAAF World Championships in Athletics until 2019, are a biennial athletics competition organized by World Athletics, formerly International Association of Athletics Federations. Alongside Olympic ...

and was a 400 m world finalist in 2011. His personal best for the event is 44.65 seconds. He has won medals at junior level at the

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

and

Pan American Junior Championships The Pan American U20 Athletics Championships are a biennial sports event for track and field organized by the Association of Panamerican Athletics (APA) open for junior (U20) athletes from member and associate member associations. They were first h ...

. He helped set a Grenadian record of 3:04.69 minutes for the

4×400 metres relay A four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 ("four by four") or 4WD, is a two-axled vehicle drivetrain capable of providing torque to all of its wheels simultaneously. It may be full-time or on-demand, and is typically linked via a transfer case pro ...

in 2011.

Career

Born in

Saint Patrick Parish, Grenada Saint Patrick is one of the Catholic parishes of Grenada, covering the north of the country. Attractions A spectacular coastline with several fine bays faces several small islands to the north. Its most famous beach is Bathway Beach. The princi ...

, he began competing in

at high school. Although Grenada had produced a 400 m world indoor champion in

Alleyne Francique Alleyne Jeremy Francique (born June 7, 1976) is a retired Grenadian athlete who specialized in 400 metres, his personal best being 44.47 seconds set in 2004. He is the 400 m two-time world indoor champion in 2004 and 2006. He won his first wor ...

, Bartholomew stated that it was his family that provided him with inspiration to focus on running.Laurence, Kwame (11 August 2011)
Focus on Athletes - Rondell Bartholomew

IAAF World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation and International Association of Athletics Federations and formerly abbreviated as the IAAF, is the international sports governing body, governing body for the sport ...

. Retrieved 2011-09-09. He began competing internationally in

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competitio ...

in 2008. At the

that year he won the under-20's 400 m title in a personal best time of 46.86 seconds, reached 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 ...

semi-finals and also ran in both the Grenadian

relay A relay Electromechanical relay schematic showing a control coil, four pairs of normally open and one pair of normally closed contacts An automotive-style miniature relay with the dust cover taken off A relay is an electrically operated switc ...

teams. He was a 400 m semi-finalist at the

2008 World Junior Championships in Athletics The 2008 World Junior Championships in Athletics is the 2008 version of the World Junior Championships in Athletics. It was held in Bydgoszcz in Poland at the Zdzisław Krzyszkowiak Stadium between 8 and 13 July 2008. Previously Bydgoszcz hosted ...

that July, then came sixth over the distance at the

2008 Commonwealth Youth Games The 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games (Hindi language, 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 hel ...

(a race which was won by his younger compatriot

Kirani James Sir Kirani Zeno James GCNG COG (born 1 September 1992) is a Grenadian professional sprinter who specializes in the 400 metres. He won the 400 m at the World Championships in 2011 and won the gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics. In the ...

). Bartholomew completed a Grenadian 1–2 finish with James at the

2009 CARIFTA Games The 38th CARIFTA Games was held in the George Odlum National Stadium in Vieux Fort, Saint Lucia, on April 10–13, 2009. Detailed reports on the results were given. Participation (unofficial) Detailed result lists can be found on t ...

, taking the 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, ...

in a personal best of 45.58 seconds (his first sub-46-second run). The duo then teamed up to win the

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receives ...

in the

race. At the

2009 Pan American Junior Athletics 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 can ...

, Bartholomew was again beaten by James, but managed to win the bronze medal behind American athlete

Tavaris Tate Tavaris Tate (born December 21, 1990) is an American sprinter. Career At the 2009 Pan American Junior Athletics Championships, Tate won a silver medal in the 400 m and a gold medal in the 4 × 400 m relay along with Clayton Parros, D ...

. With a team including James, Akim Bowen and Josh Charles, he set a national junior record of 3:11.91 minutes for the 4×400 m relay at the championships. Bartholomew had acquired the world qualifying time and made his senior debut at the

2009 World Championships in Athletics The 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics () were held in Berlin, Germany from 15 to 23 August 2009. The majority of events took place in the Olympiastadion, while the marathon and racewalking events started and finished at the Brandenbu ...

, running in the heats of the 400 m. He began attending

South Plains College South Plains College (SPC) is a public community college in Levelland, Texas. It also has five locations in Plainview, at the Reese Technology Center (formerly Reese Air Force Base), in western Lubbock, the Lubbock Downtown Center and th ...

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 ...

in 2010 and represented them athletically. He improved his 400 m best to 45.28 seconds with a win at the Michael Johnson Classic in

Waco, Texas Waco ( ) is a city in and the county seat of McLennan County, Texas, United States. It is situated along the Brazos River and Interstate 35, I-35, halfway between Dallas and Austin, Texas, Austin. The city had a U.S. census estimated 2024 popul ...

and claimed both the individual and relay Junior

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. ...

titles for South Plains. At the start of the 2011 season he won the 600 metres NCAA Indoor Junior title and came second over 200 m. He had his first run under 45 seconds at the Texas Tech Invitational, where he won the 400 m in a time of 44.65 seconds, which was the fastest time in the world at that point and brought the 21-year-old attention on the global stage. At the

Penn Relays The Penn Relays (officially The Penn Relay Carnival) is the oldest and largest track and field competition in the United States, hosted annually since April 21, 1895 by the University of Pennsylvania at Franklin Field in Philadelphia. In 2012 ...

, he and Kirani James headed a 4×400 m relay team to a Grenadian record of 3:04.69 minutes – a mark which they later improved to 3:04.27 minutes at the

2011 Central American and Caribbean Championships in Athletics The 2011 Central American and Caribbean Championships in Athletics were held in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. The event served as classifiers for the 2011 World Championships in Athletics and took place from July 15–17, 2011. It was the fourth time ...

. He made his professional debut at the

Adidas Grand Prix The USATF New York Grand Prix is an annual athletics meeting held at Icahn Stadium in New York City, New York. The event was part of the IAAF Grand Prix from 2007 to 2009. For 2010 it was promoted to the top-level Diamond League through 2015. ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

(coming third) and also ran at the

DN 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 ...

and

London Grand Prix The London Athletics Meet, formerly known as the London Grand Prix and subsequently as the Anniversary Games and London Diamond League, is an annual athletics event held in London, England. Previously one of the five IAAF Super Grand Prix even ...

Diamond League The Diamond League is an annual series of elite track and field athletic competitions comprising fifteen invitational athletics meetings. The series sits in the top tier of the World Athletics one-day meet competitions. The inaugural season was ...

meetings. He entered the

2011 World Championships in Athletics The 13th IAAF World Championships in Athletics () was an international athletics competition that was held in Daegu, South Korea. It started on 27 August 2011 and finished on 4 September 2011. The United States topped the medal standings in the ...

as the second fastest man in the men's 400 metres field. He made the event final and finished in sixth place with a time of 45.45 seconds, while Kirani James went on to win Grenada's first ever gold medal at the competition. 400 m final Daegu 2011

After years of battling injuries, Bartholomew returned to competition in 2016. He took part in the OECS Championships in that year and helped Grenada to secure a silver medal in the 4X400m relay at the track meet in

Tortola Tortola () is the largest and most populated island of the British Virgin Islands, a group of islands that form part of the archipelago of the Virgin Islands. It has a surface area of with a total population of 23,908, with 9,400 residents in ...

. The beginning of his 2017 was highlighted by a return to his home country for the inaugural Grenada Invitational where he had a season opener in the 400m with a time of 47.14.

Achievements

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bartholomew, Rondell Living people 1990 births Grenadian male sprinters South Plains Texans track and field athletes People from Saint Patrick Parish, Grenada Olympic athletes for Grenada Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics World Athletics Championships athletes for Grenada