Sir ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as part ...

Kirani Zeno James GCNG COG (born 1 September 1992) is a Grenadian professional sprinter who specializes in the

400 metres The 400 metres, or 400-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor running track, it is ...

. He won the 400 m at the World Championships in 2011 and won the gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics. In the

, James also won the silver medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics and a bronze medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, thus becoming the first man to earn the full set of three medals in the centennial history of the event. He is

Grenada Grenada is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean Sea. The southernmost of the Windward Islands, Grenada is directly south of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and about north of Trinidad and Tobago, Trinidad and the So ...

's first Olympic medalist. He holds the Grenadian national record in both the

200 metres 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 slight ...

and 400 metres. As a junior, James also specialized in the 200 metres. Prodigious from a young age, he ran the fastest 400 m times ever by a 14-year-old and a 15-year-old. He won a series of

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have b ...

s at the

CARIFTA Games The CARIFTA Games is an annual athletics competition founded by the Caribbean Free Trade Association (CARIFTA). The games were first held in 1972 and consist of track and field events including sprint races, hurdles, middle distance track ev ...

and the

Commonwealth Youth Games The Commonwealth Youth Games (CYG) is an international multi-sport event organized by the Commonwealth Games Federation. The games were held in the years, mid-way between when the Commonwealth Games are held, until 2008. They continued to be he ...

and rose on the international stage with 400 m

silver medal A silver medal, in sports and other similar areas involving competition, is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, ...

s at the 2007 World Youth and 2008 World Junior Championships. 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 An athletic scholarship is a form of scholarship to attend a college or university or a private school, private high school awarded to an individual based predominantly on their ability to play in a sport. Athletic scholarships are common in the U ...

at the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, the Capstone, or Bama) is a Public university, public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of ...

and won back-to-back NCAA Outdoor Championship titles in his first two years. 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 eleven athletes (along with Valerie Adams,

Usain Bolt Usain St. Leo Bolt (; born 21 August 1986) is a Jamaican retired sprinter who is widely regarded as the greatest sprinter of all time. He is an eight-time Olympic gold medalist and the world record holder in the 100 metres, 200 metres, ...

, Veronica Campbell Brown, Armand Duplantis, Jacques Freitag, Yelena Isinbayeva,

Faith Kipyegon Faith Chepngetich Kipyegon (born 10 January 1994) is a Kenyan Middle-distance running, middle and Long-distance running, long distance runner. Kipyegon is the current List of world records in athletics, world record holder for the 1500 metres, 1 ...

, Jana Pittman,

Dani Samuels Dani Stevens (née Samuels, born 26 May 1988) is an Australian retired discus thrower who in 2009 became the youngest ever female world champion in the event. She is the current national and Oceanian record holder. After winning the discus go ...

, and David Storl) to win World Championship titles at the youth, junior, and senior levels of an athletic event.

Career

Youth career

Kirani James attended the

Grenada Boys' Secondary School The Grenada Boys' Secondary School (GBSS) is a secondary school on the island of Grenada. Origins The Grenada Boys' Secondary School, initially known as St. George's Grammar School, opened on 2 February 1885 with ten male students at Mrs. Grey's p ...

at age 12. He has always been considered a promising athlete since he first arrived at the scenes in the 400 and 200 m in the Intercol games. At the age of 14 James won the gold medal in the 400 m at the 2007 CARIFTA Games in the under 17 category with a time of 47.86 seconds. He went on to win

s at the 2007 World Youth Championships with a time of 46.96 s, a time which is the fastest run by a 14-year-old. In April 2008, he defended his CARIFTA 400 m title, winning the

with a time of 21.38 s. In July of that year, he won a silver medal at the 2008 World Junior Championships with a time of 45.70 s, which was his personal best, and a national youth and junior record. In October, he won the

at the 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games with a new games record of 46.66 s. James made his third

appearance in

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

and, in his under-20 debut, he defeated the defending 400 m champion and fellow Grenadian Rondell Bartholomew to win in a personal best of 45.45 s. This easily set a new championship record, beating

's six-year-old mark of 46.35 s.Finisterre, Terry (12 April 2009)
James' 45.45sec beats Bolt's mark; Nero well inside 27yr-old record – CARIFTA Games, Day 2

IAAF World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation and International Association of Athletics Federations and formerly abbreviated as the IAAF, is the international sports governing body, governing body for the sport ...

. Retrieved 13 April 2009. In consequence, he was awarded the Austin Sealy Trophy for the most outstanding athlete of the games. James became the first youth athlete to complete a 200/400 metres double gold at the

2009 World Youth Championships in Athletics The 2009 World Youth Championships in Athletics is the sixth edition of the IAAF World Youth Championships in Athletics. They were held at Brixen-Bressanone Sport Arena in Bressanone, Italy from 8–12 July 2009. Athletes had to be aged 16 or ...

. Noting that he would be a junior athlete for a further two years, he focused on upcoming events, pinpointing the

2010 World Junior Championships in Athletics 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to s ...

and the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

as future goals. Following this, he won the 400 m at the 2009 Pan American Junior Championships. He was declared the 2009 Grenada Sportsman of the Year.

College athletics

At least ten colleges in the United States had expressed strong interest in recruiting James for their track team, including Baylor,

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

Florida State Florida State University (FSU or Florida State) is a Public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preeminent university in the s ...

, and Arizona State. He accepted a scholarship offer from Alabama and in his first-ever appearance on an indoor track he ran a 45.79 in the 400 meters, placing first and breaking the 10-year-old school record of 46.46 held by Cori Loving. James ran a new indoor personal best of 20.94 in the 200 m dash at the Texas A&M Challenge at Gilliam Indoor Track Stadium in

College Station, Texas College Station is a city in Brazos County, Texas, United States, situated in East-Central Texas in the Brazos Valley, towards the eastern edge of the region known as the Texas Triangle. It is northwest of Houston and east-northeast of Austin, ...

on 13 February 2010. He was runner-up at the NCAA Indoor Championships, finishing behind Torrin Lawrence. James lowered his 400 m personal best to 45.02 s at the 2010 CARIFTA Games, where he took a 200/400 m double, and improved further to 45.01 in winning the SEC Championships 400 m title. He claimed the gold medal over 400 m at the

, but stated he was only running for times and was not satisfied with his winning performance of 45.89 seconds. He won the NCAA Outdoor Championship title in his first year of collegiate competition. James moved up to third on the all-time indoor lists in February 2011, recording 44.80 seconds to win at the SEC Indoor Championships. This left only Michael Johnson and Kerron Clement as the faster athletes indoors, and also bettered LaShawn Merritt's previous world best junior time of 44.93 seconds. He failed to reach the podium at the NCAA Indoor meet as he clashed with another athlete and fell mid-race. He managed to repeat as the collegiate champion outdoors, however, as he edged ahead of Gil Roberts by one-hundredth of a second. After the end of the college season, he made his professional debut at the

London Grand Prix The London Athletics Meet, formerly known as the London Grand Prix and subsequently as the Anniversary Games and London Diamond League, is an annual athletics event held in London, England. Previously one of the five IAAF Super Grand Prix even ...

Diamond League The Diamond League is an annual series of elite track and field athletic competitions comprising fifteen invitational athletics meetings. The series sits in the top tier of the World Athletics one-day meet competitions. The inaugural season was ...

meeting and established himself among the world's best with a personal best run of 44.61 seconds – a time which made him the fastest man that year.

Professional career

At the 2011 World Championships in Daegu, South Korea, both James and fellow Grenadian runner Rondell Bartholomew made the finals of the 400 metres event. James won the event in a personal best of 44.60 seconds, becoming the youngest 400 metres world champion at the age of 18. The medal was the first for Grenada in any event at the World Championships in Athletics.Adrian, Jad (2011-08)
Kirani James World Champion 400m 44.60s (Video)
www.adriansprints.com. Retrieved 31 August 2011. Nine days later, James won the 400 metres at the 2011 IAAF Diamond League meet in Zürich with a new personal best of 44.36 seconds. At the London 2012 Olympics, James won the second 400 metres semi-final, achieving a season-best of 44.59 seconds. At the end of the race, James exchanged name tags with double-amputee runner

Oscar Pistorius Oscar Leonard Carl Pistorius ( , ; born 22 November 1986) is a South African double amputee, former professional sprinter, and convicted murderer. He was the 10th athlete to compete at both the Paralympic Games and Olympic Games. Pistorius r ...

as a sign of respect for him. On 6 August 2012, James won the 400 metres Olympic gold in a time of 43.94, a national record, earning Grenada its first-ever Olympic medal and becoming the first non-US runner to break the 44-second mark. World record holder Michael Johnson said, following the race, that James stood a chance of beating his record if he was able to deal with the remaining flaws in his technique. James described his win as "a huge step for our country in terms of stepping up to the plate in track and field, just going out there and putting us on the map". His domestic reception proved to be a euphoric one. Thousands lined the streets in preparation of his return, and he was greeted with an emphatic and vociferous national pride. Also upon his arrival the

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

, Keith Mitchell announced Mr. James would be bequeathed government bonds totaling up to EC500,000, a commemorative stamp be crafted in his honor, a new stadium be named for him, and that he would be appointed a tourism ambassador. In December 2012, James and Jamaica's Usain Bolt were named co-sportsmen of the year by '' Caribbean Journal''. On 3 July 2014, at the Athletissima meet in

Lausanne Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

, he improved his personal best to 43.74, equaling the fifth fastest time in history, and the fastest by a non-U.S.A. athlete. On 17 November 2014, James and Jamaica's Kaliese Spencer were named the sportsman and sportswoman of the year respectively by the Caribbean Sports Journalists' Association. At the 2015 World Championships, James won a bronze medal in the first World Championship 400 metres race, in which three men broke 44 seconds. At the Rio 2016 Olympics, he won the silver medal in the 400 metres in a time of 43.76, behind

Wayde van Niekerk Wayde van Niekerk (South African English: , ; born 15 July 1992) is a South African track and field sprinter who competes in the 200 and 400 metres. In the 400 metres, he is the current world and Olympic record holder, having set the rec ...

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organizatio ...

43.03. The following year, James raced sparingly and was diagnosed with Graves' disease. At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Kirani James earned a bronze medal in the Men's 400 m finals, finishing 3rd behind Colombia's Anthony Zambrano (Silver) and Steven Gardiner of The Bahamas (Gold). In doing so, he denied U.S.A. favorite Michael Norman a place on the podium.

Honours

He was appointed

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(CBE) in the

2022 New Year Honours The 2022 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 15 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebratio ...

for services to Sport. In 2024, following the end of Paris summer Olympics, he was appointed a Companion of the Order of Grenada (COG). In 2025 James was conferred with an honorary Doctor of Laws degree by the

University of the West Indies The University of the West Indies (UWI), originally University College of the West Indies, is a public university system established to serve the higher education needs of the residents of 18 English-speaking countries and territories in t ...

. He was subsequently

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

to mark Grenada’s 51st independence anniversary, being made a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Nation (GCNG).

Statistics

Personal bests

International competitions

¹Disqualified in the final

Circuit wins

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

** Weltklasse Zürich:

** Athletissima:

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

Shanghai Golden Grand Prix The Shanghai Diamond League is an annual athletics event at the Shanghai Stadium in Shanghai, China, as part of the Diamond League. The meeting was founded as the Shanghai Golden Grand Prix in 2005. The meet assumed its current name in 2010. Fr ...

Meeting de Paris Meeting de Paris (formerly known as the Meeting Areva and Meeting Gaz de France) is an annual track and field meeting at the Stade Sébastien Charléty in Paris, France. Previously one of the IAAF Golden League events, it is now part of the Di ...

** Prefontaine Classic:

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

** Birmingham Grand Prix:

BAUHAUS-galan BAUHAUS-galan, formerly known as DN-Galan is an annual, international Sport of athletics, athletics meeting that takes place at the Stockholm Olympic Stadium, Olympic Stadium in Stockholm. Previously it was one of the five IAAF Super Grand Prix e ...

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

Legacy

Kirani's athletic accomplishments have inspired many Grenadians and led to many objects on the island being named after him, including Kirani James Athletic Stadium and Kirani James Boulevard, both of which are located in the parish of St. George.

References

External links

* * * *
Kirani James wins the 2012 Olympic Games men's 400 metres final in 43.94 seconds
via the

Olympic Channel Olympic Channel is an over-the-top Internet television service operated by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). It was launched on August 21, 2016, alongside the closing of the 2016 Summer Olympics. The service aims to maintain year-round ...

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:James, Kirani 1992 births Living people Grenadian male sprinters Olympic athletes for Grenada Olympic gold medalists for Grenada Olympic silver medalists for Grenada Olympic bronze medalists for Grenada Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics World Athletics Championships athletes for Grenada World Athletics Championships medalists Athletes (track and field) at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Alabama Crimson Tide men's track and field athletes People from Saint John Parish, Grenada Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Grenada Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field) Olympic silver medalists in athletics (track and field) Olympic bronze medalists in athletics (track and field) Diamond League winners World Athletics Championships winners Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Medallists at the 2014 Commonwealth Games NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners Athletes (track and field) at the 2024 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games gold medallists in athletics