Aaron Armstrong

Aaron Armstrong

Aaron Armstrong (left) holding his Olympic silver medal.
Personal information
Full name	Aaron Nigel Armstrong
National team	Trinidad and Tobago
Born	(1977-10-14) 14 October 1977 (age 47) Houston, Texas
Height	5 ft 8 in (173 cm)
Weight	154 lb (70 kg)
Sport
Sport	Track and field
Event(s)	100 metres, 200 metres
College team	University of Florida
Medal record Men's athletics Representing Trinidad Olympic Games 2008 Beijing 4×100 m relay CAC Championships 2011 Mayagüez 4×100 m relay Commonwealth Games 2010 Delhi 100 m

Aaron Nigel Armstrong (born 14 October 1977) is a track and field sprint athlete who competes internationally for Trinidad and Tobago.^[1] He is the 2008 Olympic champion in 4 × 100 metres relay.

Armstrong attended the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, where he ran for the Florida Gators track and field team in NCAA competition. One of his first international medalling performances came at the 2005 Central American and Caribbean Championships: he won the 200 metres silver medal behind Usain Bolt and helped the Trinidad and Tobago team to the gold medal in the 4 x 100 metres relay. He reached the quarter-finals of the 200 metres at the 2005 World Championships in Athletics and was sixth in the 2005 IAAF World Athletics Final.^[2]

He was selected to represent his country at the 2006 Commonwealth Games and finished in fifth place in the 200 metres final. He helped his country retain the relay title at the 2008 Central American and Caribbean Championships, but he lost his place in the individual events to his national rivals Emmanuel Callender and Rondel Sorrillo (who won gold and silver).^[3]

Armstrong represented Trinidad and Tobago at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. He competed at the 4x100 metres relay together with Marc Burns, Keston Bledman and Richard Thompson. In their qualification heat they placed first in front of teams from Japan, the Netherlands and Brazil. Their time of 38.26 was the fastest of all sixteen teams participating in the first round and they qualified for the final. Armstrong was replaced by Emmanuel Callender for the final race and they sprinted to a time of 38.06 seconds, the second time after the Jamaican team, winning the silver medal.^[1] However, later on Jamaica were disqualified, and Trinidad and Tobago promoted to the gold medal. He also took part in the 200 metres individual, finishing first in his first round heat, with a time of 20.57 seconds. With 20.58 seconds in the second round he only placed fifth in his heat, which was not enough to qualify for the semi-finals.^[1]

He ran in the 200 metres at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics in Berlin, but he was eliminated in the first heats stage (although his time of 21.38 was a season's best).^[2] He took the bronze medal at the 2010 Commonwealth Games, finishing behind Lerone Clarke and Mark Lewis-Francis.^[4]

Personal bests

• 100 m – 10.03 (2009)
• 200 m – 20.08 (1999)
• 400 m hurdles – 51.68 (2002)

As of 14 November 2024, Armstrong holds the 200 metres track record for Meridian where on 3 April 1998 he clocked a time of 20.32 seconds with a following wind of 2.6 m/s.

See also

• Florida Gators
• List of University of Florida Olympians

References

1. "Athlete biography: Aaron Armstrong". Beijing2008.cn. Archived from the original on 9 August 2008. Retrieved 29 August 2008.
2. Armstrong Aaron. IAAF. Retrieved on 2010-10-07.
3. "Results service Campeonato CAC de Atletismo 2008". athlecac.org. Archived from the original on 25 July 2011.. AthleCAC. Retrieved on 2010-03-09.
4. Games-Clarke keeps Jamaican flag flying in absence of Bolt. Reuters (2010-10-07). Retrieved on 2010-10-07.

External links

• Aaron Armstrong at World Athletics
• Aaron Armstrong at Olympics.com
• Aaron Armstrong at Olympedia (archive)
• Aaron Armstrong at the Commonwealth Games Federation (archived)
• Aaron Armstrong at the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games (archived)