Grenadian Olympic medalist, Kirani James, who won his third medal in the Men’s 400m at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, has been approved for the award of the Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for his contribution to sports, according to Loop News.
It said that James, 29, nicknamed “The Jaguar,” is Grenada’s first and only Olympic medalist.
Born on Sept. 1, 1992, James specializes in the 200 and 400 metres.
He won the 400 m at the World Championships in 2011 and the 2012 London Olympics, according to Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia.
In the 400 metres, it said James also won the silver medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics and bronze medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, “giving him an Olympic medal at every level.”
“Prodigious from a young age, he ran the fastest 400 m times ever by a 14-year-old and a 15-year-old,” Wikipedia said.
“He won a series of gold medals at the CARIFTA Games and the Commonwealth Youth Games and rose on the international stage with 400 m silver medals at the 2007 World Youth and 2008 World Junior Championships,” it added, stating that James became the first athlete to run a 200/400 double at the 2009 World Youth Championships and was the 2010 World Junior Champion.
James received an athletic scholarship at the University of Alabama and won back-to-back NCAA Outdoor Championship titles in his first two years, Wikipedia said.
It said he is the third fastest of all-time indoors (44.80 seconds) and ran a personal best of 43.74 at a 2014 Diamond League event in Lausanne.
James is one of only nine athletes, along with Valerie Adams, Usain Bolt, Veronica Campbell-Brown, Jacques Freitag, Yelena Isinbayeva, Jana Pittman, Dani Samuels and David Storl, to win world championships at the youth, junior and senior level of an athletic event, Wikipedia said.
James was diagnosed with the autoimmune disorder Graves’ disease in 2017 and used his recovery time to complete his business degree at the University of Alabama, Olympics.com said.
“Like women’s 100m champion Gail Devers, he will need to take medication for the condition for the rest of his life,” it said.
“He took time out in 2019 following the death of his mother, and needed the final day of the qualification window to make the Doha World Championships after some niggling injuries. Given that build-up, his fifth place behind Gardiner was more than respectable,” Olympics.com added.
“And he’s shown that he’s right back to his best in Tokyo, winning his semi-final in a very fast 43.88,” it continued. “While that performance was not as effortless as Gardiner’s, the 28-year-old is sure to be right in the mix for a third Olympic medal.”
