Remembering Olympic pioneer Les Laing

4 years ago

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Jamaica’s Olympic gold medallist Leslie Alphanso ‘Les’ Laing died Sunday morning at the age of 95.

Laing was a member of the 4×400 metres team that won the gold medal at the Helsinki Olympic Games in 1952 in 3:03.9 minutes, a world record at the time.

It was the first relay gold medal at the Olympic Games for Jamaica, with the other members being Arthur Wint, Herb McKenley and George Rhoden. The latter is now the only surviving member of the quartet as Wint died in 1992 and McKenley in 2007.

The 1952 Olympic Games was Laing’s second, as he had also competed at the 1948 London Games, where he was sixth in the 200 metres and eliminated in the heats of the 100 metres.

At the 1952 Olympic Games, Laing ran the second leg on the gold medal team.

Laing was born in Linstead, St Catherine and was inducted into the Central American and Caribbean Confederation Hall of Fame in 2005. He would have been 96 on February 19.