Alberto Byington

In addition to being a track sprinter Alberto Byington Jr. was also a successful film producer in Brazil, working for his father’s business. Byington ran in the 110 metres hurdles at the 1924 Paris Olympics but was eliminated in the heats. After the Olympics he went to the United States where he earned a degree in History and Iberian Literature from Harvard University.

Byington returned to Brazil where he worked in the cinema industry and produced the very first sound film in the country, Coisas Nossas (1931). Between 1925 and 1944 he had more than a dozen production credits to his name for films made in Brazil. Byington helped to build the first phonographic record factory in the country that was funded entirely by Brazilian capital. He later gained a degree in Legal and Social Sciences from the University of São Paulo, which he used to fight class lawsuits against two Presidents of Brazil.

Personal Best: 110H – 16.2 (1924).