Alfred Downer

Alfred Downer was a 4th generation Jamaican whose family had arrived on the island in the early 19th century and is sometimes described as the first of the line of great sprinters that Jamaica has produced. When his parents’ marriage collapsed around 1880 he went to live in the UK with his mother. There he was educated at George Watson’s College in Edinburgh and latterly at the Edinburgh Institute where he began to excel as an athlete.

Downer began to make an impact as a sprinter at the age of 20 in 1893 when he won Scottish titles at 100y, 220y and 440y – a feat he was to repeat for the next two years. Over this period he was regularly in the top ten of the world lists and recorded the fastest times for both the 100 metres and 100 yards in 1895. Downer would have been one of the favourites to take the 100 m title at the revival of the Olympics in 1896 but was not present at Athina and was declared a professional before the end of the year.

During his first years as a pro he developed a rivalry with Edgar Bredin which might have come to a climax at the professional events at the 1900 Olympics had it not been for Downer suffering an Achilles injury in the high hurdles in Paris. Downer never returned to his former form and his performances followed a slow decline. Some modern research has suggested that a bout of malaria affected his general health or that he struggled with alcohol abuse whilst there is also documentary evidence that syphilis may have accounted for his early death at the age of 39 in 1912. In 1899 his autobiography, Running Recollections and How to Train was published.