Sylvio or Silvio Paul Cator (October 19, 1900 – July 21, 1952) was a

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...

athlete An athlete (also sportsman or sportswoman) is a person who competes in one or more sports that involve physical strength, speed, or endurance. Athletes may be professionals or amateurs. Most professional athletes have particularly well-devel ...

most successful 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 ...

Biography

Born in

Cavaillon Cavaillon (; Provençal: ''Cavalhon'') is a commune in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of Southeastern France.

, Cator was a footballer who played for the Trivoli Athletic Club and the

Racing Club Haïtien Racing Club Haïtien is a professional football club based in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. It is one of the most successful clubs in the country's history. History The club has won the most league championships in Haitian club history, 11, winnin ...

. He participated in the

1924 Summer Olympics The 1924 Summer Olympics (french: Jeux olympiques d'été de 1924), officially the Games of the VIII Olympiad (french: Jeux de la VIIIe olympiade) and also known as Paris 1924, were an international multi-sport event held in Paris, France. The op ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

in the high jump, where he finished 15th, and the long jump, where he came in 12th. In the

1928 Summer Olympics The 1928 Summer Olympics ( nl, Olympische Zomerspelen 1928), officially known as the Games of the IX Olympiad ( nl, Spelen van de IXe Olympiade) and commonly known as Amsterdam 1928, was an international multi-sport event that was celebrated from ...

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

he won a silver medal in the long jump. His 7.58 m effort was 16 cm short of gold ( Edward Hamm). A month later, on September 9, 1928, Sylvio Cator broke Edward Hamm's two-month-old world record with a 7.93 m jump at the 1924 Olympic stadium near Paris. He participated one more time in the long jump at the 1932 games in Los Angeles, where he took the 9th place. As of

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

, his silver medal is the best result of a Haitian athlete in the Olympics, with only one other medal (bronze) for the Haitian free rifle team in the 1924 Olympics. His world record long jump is still (2021) the Haitian national record. In 1946 Cator was elected Mayor of Port-au-Prince.

Stade Sylvio Cator The Stade Sylvio Cator is a multi-purpose stadium in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. It is currently used mostly for association football matches, and is turfed with artificial turf. History The stadium bears the name of Haitian Olympic medalist and footba ...

, a multi-use

stadium A stadium ( : stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand o ...

in that city, was named after him and was finished in the year of his death in

Port-au-Prince Port-au-Prince ( , ; ht, Pòtoprens ) is the capital and most populous city of Haiti. The city's population was estimated at 987,311 in 2015 with the metropolitan area estimated at a population of 2,618,894. The metropolitan area is define ...

. In 1958, Haiti issued a series of seven stamps commemorating Cator's Olympic medal and world record 30 years before.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cator, Silvio 1900 births 1952 deaths Haitian long jumpers Haitian high jumpers Olympic athletes of Haiti Athletes (track and field) at the 1924 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1928 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1932 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for Haiti World record setters in athletics (track and field) Medalists at the 1928 Summer Olympics Mayors of Port-au-Prince Olympic silver medalists in athletics (track and field) Haitian male athletes Male long jumpers Male high jumpers People from Sud (department)