Ryan Brathwaite (born June 6, 1988) is a

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 ...

athlete from

Barbados Barbados, officially the Republic of Barbados, is an island country in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies and the easternmost island of the Caribbean region. It lies on the boundary of the South American ...

who won the

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 b ...

in the

110 metres hurdles The 110 metres hurdles, or 110-metre hurdles, is a hurdling track and field event for men. It is included in the athletics (sport), athletics programme at the Summer Olympic Games. The female counterpart is the 100 metres hurdles. As part of a rac ...

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 ...

in Berlin. In recognition of his achievements, on September 17, 2009 Brathwaite was given the honour of being an ambassador while formally receiving the title Ambassador His Excellency Ryan Brathwaite. He is from the Hillaby district in the parish of St. Andrew. Although he shares a birthplace, surname and speciality with Shane Brathwaite, the two are not related.Arcoleo, Laura (2007-07-13)
Brathwaite is Barbados first World champion
IAAF. Retrieved on 2014-07-11.

Career

He first ran on the world stage at the

2005 World Youth Championships in Athletics The 2005 IAAF World Youth Championships in Athletics, World Youth Championships in Athletics were held in Marrakesh, Morocco on July 13–July 17. The host stadium was Stade Sidi Youssef Ben Ali. The boy's 400 metres hurdles event was initially w ...

, taking the silver medal in the 110 meter hurdles. More success came in regional competition when he won the 2006 CAC Junior Championships. He competed as a senior athlete at the

2007 World Championships in Athletics The 11th World Championships in Athletics, () under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), were held at Nagai Stadium in Osaka, Japan from 24 August to 2 September 2007. 200 of the IAAF's 212 member feder ...

and he reached the sprint hurdles semi-finals. He also represented Barbados at the

2007 Pan American Games The 2007 Pan American Games, officially known as the XV Pan American Games () and commonly known as Rio 2007, were a major Americas, continental multi-sport event that took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from July 13 to 29, 2007. A total of ...

where he finished in fourth place. Brathwaite set a national record at the 2008 Central American and Caribbean Championships in Athletics, winning his heat in a time of 13.49 seconds and finishing fourth in the final. He improved this further at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

, running 13.38 seconds in the heats. He made it through to the Olympic semi-finals before being knocked out. He broke a championship record the following year at the 2009 CAC Championships, which he achieved in the semi-finals. However, he was beaten in the final by the reigning Olympic champion Dayron Robles. At the

, neither Robles nor the defending world champion Liu Xiang were present for the final as they withdrew due to injury. Brathwaite took advantage of this, setting a new best of 13.18 in the semi-finals, and he improved to 13.14 to win the gold and become the 2009 world champion. At 21 years old, he was the youngest ever champion for the event.Arcoleo, Laura (2009-08-20)
‘More to come’ from hurdles surprise Brathwaite
.

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 on 2010-03-09. After the gold medal, he won at the

Memorial Van Damme The Memorial Van Damme is an annual athletics event at the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels, Belgium, that takes place in late August or early September. Previously one of the IAAF Golden League events, it now serves as a final event of the D ...

meeting and closed a successful year with another gold at the 2009 IAAF World Athletics Final.

Personal bests

Achievements

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Brathwaite, Ryan Athletes from Bridgetown 1988 births Living people Barbadian male hurdlers Olympic athletes for Barbados Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics World Athletics Championships medalists Barton Cougars men's track and field athletes Junior college men's track and field athletes in the United States Athletes (track and field) at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games athletes for Barbados Central American and Caribbean Games gold medalists for Barbados Athletes (track and field) at the 2010 Central American and Caribbean Games World Athletics Championships winners IAAF World Athletics Final winners Central American and Caribbean Games medalists in athletics Athletes (track and field) at the 2007 Pan American Games Pan American Games competitors for Barbados

Career

Personal bests

Achievements

See also

References

External links