Chris Brathwaite

Chris Brathwaite was a Trinidadian sprinter who competed at two Olympic Games. He represented Trinidad & Tobago multiple times in international meets, first at the 1970 Central American and Caribbean Games. He later competed at that event in 1982. His other major competitions were the 1975 and 1984 Pan-American Games, the inaugural 1983 World Athletics Championships, and the 1978 and 1982 Commonwealth Games.

A solid sprinter who often made it to the semi- or quarter-finals at major internationals, he never made an individual podium but was fourth in the 100 metres at the 1982 Central American and Caribbean Games. In 1978 he won a silver medal at the Commonwealth Games in the 4×100 relay. He was also the 100/200 champion of Trinidad & Tobago in 1978 and 1983. Brathwaite attended several schools in the United States, starting at Eastern New Mexico in 1972, moving to Spokane Community College in 1973, and then do most of his studies at the University of Oregon (1974-77), from which he graduated with bachelor’s and masters’ degrees in sociology.

In 1984 Brathwaite was still living in Eugene, Oregon and was training on 12 November 1984. On that day Michael Feher, dressed in camouflage and war paint, walked into Autzen Stadium where he first shot Rick O’Shea, an Oregon wrestler, who survived. But he also terrorized football players in the weight room, and then walked onto the Eugene streets, shooting and killing Chris Brathwaite, before taking his own life.

Personal Bests: 100 – 10.35 (1982); 200 – 21.02 (1980).