A debate can be had about who is the greatest or the best athlete Jamaica has produced. Such is the nature of sport, but one of the things that is undebatable is that George Ezekiel Kerr was the first man to have the Jamaican flag flown in recognition of winning a gold medal at the 1962 Central American and Caribbean Games held inside Kingston’s National Stadium.
Kerr, who specialized in the 400m and 800m races, won his specialty double, as well as the 4x400m relays, much to the delight of his countrymen.
Born in Hanover in 1937, Kerr represented the British West Indies at the 1960 Rome Olympic Games where he won bronze medals in the 800m and the 4x400m relays.
Representing Jamaica at the next Olympic Games cycle in 1964 at Tokyo, he finished just outside the bronze medal in fourth place in both the 800m and the 4x400m relays. Such was his prowess at the time that he broke the world record in the 800m semi-finals but lost the bronze by less than one-tenth of a second, though running his fastest-ever time of 1:45.9 minutes.
In 1959 he won gold in the 400m and the 4x400m relay while claiming a silver medal in the 800m at the Pan American Games in Chicago. At the 1958 Commonwealth Games in Cardiff, Wales, Kerr won a bronze medal in the 4×400-yard relay, then at the next cycle in 1962 in Perth, Australia, he was on fire. He won the 440 yards and the 4×440-yard relay while winning a silver medal in the 880-yard contest.
In 1966 at the Kingston Games, he claimed a bronze medal in the 880 yards contest.
