Lloyd Barrington LaBeach (28 June 1922 – 19 February 1999) was a Panamanian sprinter, who won two

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 receive ...

s during the

1948 Summer Olympics The 1948 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XIV Olympiad and also known as London 1948) were an international multi-sport event held from 29 July to 14 August 1948 in London, England, United Kingdom. Following a twelve-year hiatus ca ...

, the first Olympic medals for Panama and for Central America. He also competed in the

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

. In the

100 meters The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been contest ...

, he finished behind

Harrison Dillard William Harrison "Bones" Dillard (July 8, 1923 – November 15, 2019) was an American track and field athlete, who is the only male in the history of the Olympic Games to win gold in both the 100 meter (sprints) and the 110 meter hurdles, maki ...

and

Barney Ewell Henry Norwood "Barney" Ewell (February 25, 1918 – April 4, 1996) was an American athlete, winner of one gold and two silver medals at the 1948 Summer Olympics. Born into poverty in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Ewell was one of the world's lead ...

for third place, ahead of favorite

Mel Patton Melvin Emery Patton (November 16, 1924 – May 9, 2014) was an American sprinter, who set the world record in the 100 yard dash of 9.2 seconds in 1948. He also set a 220 yd world record in 1949 on a straightaway of 20.2, breaking the record held ...

. Born in

Panama City Panama City ( es, Ciudad de Panamá, links=no; ), also known as Panama (or Panamá in Spanish), is the capital and largest city of Panama. It has an urban population of 880,691, with over 1.5 million in its metropolitan area. The city is locat ...

, his parents were Jamaican immigrants. While Lloyd was still in school the family relocated to Jamaica, where La Beach first showed his talent in athletics. He later entered the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

, where he was coached during his preparations for the Olympic Games. In 1948, he set the world record in the

200 meters 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 slightl ...

on a cinder track in

Compton, California Compton is a city in southern Los Angeles County, California, United States, situated south of downtown Los Angeles. Compton is one of the oldest cities in the county and, on May 11, 1888, was the eighth city in Los Angeles County to incorporat ...

. After the race, he was described in ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'' as "Panama's one-man Olympic hope." Just a few weeks before La Beach had been involved in a world record setting

100-yard dash 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1 ...

, in which he barely lost at the finish line tape to Patton. These 1948 performances made him one of the expected medal contenders against Patton and Ewell in the Olympics. His brother Byron LaBeach, also a sprinter, competed in the

1952 Summer Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics ( fi, Kesäolympialaiset 1952; sv, Olympiska sommarspelen 1952), officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad ( fi, XV olympiadin kisat; sv, Den XV olympiadens spel) and commonly known as Helsinki 1952 ( sv, Helsin ...

representing

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

. LaBeach retired from athletics in 1957, and died in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, on 19 February 1999, at the age of 76.

Competition record

Notes

1922 births 1999 deaths Sportspeople from Panama City Athletes (track and field) at the 1948 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes of Panama Olympic bronze medalists for Panama Panamanian male sprinters Panamanian male long jumpers Central American and Caribbean Games gold medalists for Panama Central American and Caribbean Games silver medalists for Panama Competitors at the 1946 Central American and Caribbean Games Competitors at the 1950 Central American and Caribbean Games Panamanian people of Jamaican descent Medalists at the 1948 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists in athletics (track and field) Central American and Caribbean Games medalists in athletics Panamanian expatriates in the United States {{panama-athletics-bio-stub