Bernarr Prendergast

Bernarr Prendergast was a student at St. Mary’s Hospital Medical School from 1933-42 where he studied for the Conjoint Board. An exponent of all three throwing events, he placed third in the discus at the 1934 British Empire Games, and at the University Inter-College Championship at Motspur Park in 1935, won the shot, discus and javelin and captured The Lady Busk Cup for the outstanding individual performance as he helped St Mary’s to second place in the team championship. At the 1934 British Empire Games he was involved in an unfortunate incident. During training he was returning a javelin back to the throwing area when it struck a female Japanese athlete, Hideki Yamomoto, in the thigh. Fortunately, she was not severely injured.

Prendergast won the USU discus title in 1935-36 and was the AAA Champion in 1936. As Jamaica was not represented at the 1936 Olympics, Prendergast went to Berlin with the British team but, as the Olympic qualifying distance of 44 metres (144-4) was very close to his personal best, he failed to advance to the final.

Personal Bests: DT – 44.16 (144-10½) (1936).