Breaking records and saving lives: The story of Arthur Wint
Training to become a doctor is difficult. Training to become an Olympic athlete is difficult. Training to be a Royal Air Force (RAF) pilot and fighting in a World War is difficult.
And yet Arthur Wint did not one, but all three of these things. Sometimes, at the same time.
Born in Jamaica in 1920, Wint showed promise as an athlete from a young age. When he was just 17, he was named the ‘Jamaica Boy Athlete of the Year’, an accolade he proved he deserved when he took home gold in the 800 meters at the Central American Games the following year.
Fast-forward to 1942 when the RAF began to recruit people from the British Colonies to help with the Second World War effort. Wint, along with his two brothers, signed up to the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan and was sent to Canada from training. While there, he continued to demonstrate his athletic prowess by winning the Canadian 400m race and setting a new record.
Wint gained his ‘wings’ from the RAF in 1944, after which he was sent to Britain, where he took part in active service as a Spitfire pilot. For a few years after the War ended, Wint stayed in the RAF. During this time, he continued to compete as an athlete, winning races for the RAF at the White City Stadium and at the English AAA’s championship.
Then, in 1947, Wint’s life took a different path when he won a scholarship to study medicine at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital. Something which even today, is no mean feat. You’d be forgiven for thinking that it was at this point Wint hung up his running shoes. After all, he was training to be a doctor at one of the most prestigious hospitals in the world.
You’d be wrong.
While studying to be a doctor, Wint competed for Jamaica in the 1948 Olympic Games in London. He also happened to win Jamaica’s first ever Olympic gold medal when he won the 400m race in a time of 46.2 seconds, equalling the then world record. He also competed in the 800ms (and took home silver) and the 4 x 400 meter relay, which he sadly pulled a muscle in and so missed out on a likely podium finish.
With the Olympics over, Wint focused on his studies. Until that is, the next Olympics in Helsinki in 1952, where he was determined to make good on a promise he’d made four year before – that he and his relay team mates would take home gold this time round.
He made good on his promise. In those games, Wint and his teammates took home gold in the 4 x 400m relay, and set a new world record at the same time. He also won silver for a second time in the 800m race.
In 1953, Wint qualified as a doctor from St. Bartholomew’s Hospital. He also ran his final race in Wembley Stadium that year. The following year, the Queen made him a Member of the British Empire (MBE), and in 1955 he returned to his home county of Jamaica, specifically, Hanover parish. There, he worked as the parish’s only doctor and surgeon until around 1974. At this time, he returned to England, where he served as Jamaica’s High Commissioner to Britain. Not one to be content doing only one thing at a time, he also served as Jamaica’s ambassador to Sweden and Denmark during this period.
After a four year stint as a diplomat, Wint went back to his medical roots. He returned to Jamaica in 1978 where he worked at Linstead Hospital as the Senior Medical Officer and Surgeon until 1985. He died in Linstead in 1992 at the age of 72, and was survived by his wife and three daughters.
Throughout his career, Arthur Wint was known to many as the ‘Gentle Giant’. And while he is perhaps best known for his athletic abilities, we can’t look past the amazing work he did as a doctor. He received a scholarship to one of the best medical hospitals in the country, graduated and then used his skills and education to improve the health of people in his own country, acting as the sole medical professional for a village and caring for their needs.
And that’s what Black History Month is all about. Taking the time to educate ourselves and remember pioneers and trail-blazers like 6ft 5inches tall Arthur Wint, who, no doubt faced challenges and prejudice, but appeared to take everything in his enormous stride.
Other accolades Wint received include:
- Awarded the Jamaican Order of Distinction for services to charities, schools and businesses in 1973
- Inducted into the USA’s Black Athlete’s Hall of Fame in 1977
- Inducted into the Jamaica Sports Hall of Fame in 1989
- Inducted into the Central American & Caribbean Athletic Confederation Hall of Fame in 2003
- Road named after him in Kingston, Jamaica, which runs past a hospital on its way to the National Stadium