Harry Jerome

Medal record
A statue of Harry Jerome in Stanley Park.
Men's Athletics
Competitor for  Canada
Olympic Games
Bronze	1964 Tokyo	100 metres
Pan American Games
Gold	1967 Winnipeg	100 metres

Henry "Harry" Winston Jerome OC (September 30, 1940 – December 7, 1982) was a Canadian track and field runner. He was the grandson of John Howard, a railway porter who represented Canada in the 1912 Summer Olympics.

Born in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, he moved to North Vancouver at age 12. In 1970 he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. Harry Jerome died of a brain aneurysm in December 1982, at the age of 42. His sister, Valerie Jerome, was also an Olympian who competed for Canada at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome.^[1]

Athletic career

He competed in college for Bill Bowerman at the University of Oregon. He competed for Canada in the 1960, 1964, and 1968 Summer Olympics, winning 100 metre bronze in 1964. He also won the gold in the 1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games and the 1967 Pan American Games. During his career, Jerome set a total seven world records, including tying the 100 metres in 10.2, 10.1 and finally 10.0 seconds in 1960, tying a record established a month earlier by Germany's Armin Hary. He continued to sprint successfully until the late 1960s, despite suffering an injury so severe at the Perth Commonwealth Games in 1962 that doctors initially believed he would never walk again?

Post-athletic career

After retiring from athletics in 1969, he was invited by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau to help create Canada's new Ministry of Sport. Jerome held a number of senior positions in the ministry but resigned over the government's cancellation of a large-scale public-private partnership he had negotiated with Kellogg's to promote youth participation in athletics.

Tributes

In 1984, the Labatts International Track Classic Pre-Olympic meet was renamed the Harry Jerome International Track Classic. It has become a prestigious track and field meet held annually at Swangard Stadium in Burnaby, British Columbia - is named in Jerome's honour. The Harry Jerome Sports Complex in North Vancouver, a block from North Vancouver High School where he first went out from track in 1958 and the Harry Jerome Sports Centre, home to the Burnaby Velodrome, in Burnaby, British Columbia is named after Jerome, as are the weight room at his Alma Mater the University of Oregon and the track and field stadium in Prince Albert. The Stanley Park sea wall in his native Vancouver is graced with a 9-foot bronze statue of him. The annual Harry Jerome Awards, the national awards dinner for Canada's black community organized by the Black Business and Professionals Association (BBPA), is named after him. In 2001 he was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame.

Works about Jerome

Production began in April 2009 on the feature-length documentary Harry Jerome, directed by Charles Officer and produced by the National Film Board of Canada. The film is inspired by Fil Fraser’s book on Jerome, entitled Running Uphill.^[2]

Achievements

• 1960 World Record 100 m: 10.0 (tied record of Armin Hary)
• 1960 Olympic Games 100 m Canadian team member
• 1961 World Record 100 yds: 9.3
• 1962 World Record 100 yds: 9.2
• 1964 Summer Olympics 100 m: 3rd 10.2 / 200 m: 4th 20.7
• 1966 World Record 100 yds: 9.1
• 1966 Commonwealth Games 100 yds: 1st 9.4
• 1967 Pan American Games 100 m 1st 10.2
• 1968 Summer Olympics 100 m: 7th 10.2

References

1. ^ http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/je/valerie-jerome-1.html
2. ^ "Charles Officer begins production on NFB Harry Jerome documentary". AfroToronto. 2009-04-19. http://www.afrotoronto.com/CMS/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1661&Itemid=90. Retrieved 2009-04-21. 

• "Harry Winston Jerome". Canada's Walk of Fame. http://www.canadaswalkoffame.com/inductees/01_harry_winston_jerome.xml.htm. Retrieved July 13 2006. 

External links

• Harry Jerome International Track Classic
• Harry Jerome on Find-A-Grave
• University of Oregon [1]