Rodney Adolphus Wilkes won Trinidad and Tobago’s first-ever Olympic Games medal at the 1948 London Olympics.
The weightlifter earned a silver medal by lifting 317.5kg, bettered only by Egyptian Mahmoud Fayad.
Nicknamed “The Mighty Midget” he remained relatively unknown outside of local competition until he won the gold medal at the 1946 Central American and Caribbean Games in Barranquilla, Colombia. His performance included record lifts of 205 pounds (93 kg) in the press, 210 pounds (95 kg) in the snatch, and 275 pounds (125 kg) in the clean and jerk
At the Helsinki Olympic Games in 1952, Wilkes again won a medal
On this occasion he won the bronze medal behind Rafael Chimishkyan and Nikolai Saksonov, both of the Soviet Union. After a brief period of retirement in 1953 Wilkes returned to competition and won gold at the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Vancouver; four years later he won bronze at Games in Cardiff.
He was the first champion at the inaugural Pan American Games in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1951 and was the gold medallist at the British Commonwealth Games in 1954.
Wilkes final Olympic appearance came at the 1956 Melbourne Games. He finished in fourth position with a combined lift of 330 kilograms (730 lb), missing out on a medal by one place and 5 kg. He continued competing until 1960 but retired for good when he failed to make the West Indies team for the Olympics in Rome.
