Kirani James

Who is Kirani James?

Sir Kirani James is a Grenadian sprinter specializing in the 400 metres, born on 1 September 1992 in the fishing village of Gouyave. He showed prodigious talent from a young age, setting the fastest 400m times ever recorded by a 14- and 15-year-old, including a gold medal at the 2007 CARIFTA Games under-17 category and a silver medal at the 2007 World Youth Championships. He accepted an athletics scholarship to the University of Alabama, where he broke long-standing school records in his first indoor season. In 2011, at the World Championships in Daegu, South Korea, James won the 400m title in a personal best time, becoming the youngest world champion in the event's history at age 18. The following year, at the 2012 London Olympics, he won the 400m gold medal in a national record of 43.94 seconds, becoming the first non-American man to break 44 seconds and giving Grenada its first-ever Olympic medal of any color. He added a silver medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics and a bronze at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, making him the first man to win all three Olympic medal colors in the event's hundred-year history. He was knighted on Grenada's 51st independence anniversary and received an honorary doctorate from the University of the West Indies in 2025.

Sources: Kirani James, Wikipedia biographical entry (cross-checked) · World Athletics, "Kirani JAMES" athlete profile · Olympics.com, "Kirani James: Putting Grenadian athletics on the map"