Professional sprinter from Grenada, K. James CBE (born 1 September 1992), excels in the 200 and 400 metres.
At the 2011 World Championships and the 2012 London Olympics, he won the 400 m. James became the first athlete to win three medals in the 400 metre event’s century-long history.
When he also won the silver medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio and the bronze medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
He is the first and only Olympic medalist from Grenada. He ran the fastest 400-meter times ever for a 14- and 15-year-old at an early age due to his prodigious abilities.
His rise to prominence came with 400 m silver medals at the 2007 World Youth and 2008 World Junior Championships.
He also won a number of gold medals in the CARIFTA Games and the Commonwealth Youth Games.
Tokyo Olympics: K. James on Gold, Blood and Home
When James left the Maurice Bishop airport on a warm August evening, he had his first clue.
When he was 19 years old, his global 400-meter victory from the previous year had already earned him a street in the island’s capital, St. George.
But his victory in London 2012—the first Olympic medal of any colour for Grenada—was of a different calibre.
James smiled sheepishly as he left the arrivals area. A sea of people, banners, and a loud public address system announcing “King James'” return were in front of him.
A public holiday in his honour had already been declared by the prime minister.
Grenada won its second Olympic medal four years later. James followed in the footsteps of world record-holder Wayde van Niekerk by winning silver in Rio.
The 28-year-Olympic old’s campaign, though, has been the longest and most difficult so far in the run-up to Tokyo.
James finished sixth in a well-known American collegiate competition eight months after Rio. He finished more than two seconds slower than the previous year’s meeting record.
Meet former Alabama sprinter K. James, Grenada’s star Olympian, ahead of Tokyo Olympics
K. James, a 28-year-old former track standout for Alabama, has high hopes for the Tokyo Olympics. Since he was a teen, the sprinter has been making history.
James will have the chance to demonstrate this summer that he has recovered from an autoimmune illness and is as resilient as ever.
James was quickly given legend status in the little Caribbean island he calls home when he won the gold medal in the 400 metres at the 2012 London Olympics.
After earning a silver medal in Rio in 2016 as well, he became the first and only Olympic medallist for Grenada, a distinction he still has today.
His time to win the gold medal in London was 43.94 seconds. He was the first athlete from outside of the US to run under 44 seconds.
Conclusion
James won his third Olympic medal in as many games with a time of 44.19 seconds in the event.
The 28-year-old sprinter is currently the most decorated Olympian in the 400 metres after winning gold in London in 2012, silver in Rio in 2016, and now bronze in Tokyo in 2020.
