Michael Fray

Michael Fray (3 September 1947 – 6 November 2019) was a Jamaican Olympic sprinter.[1] In the 1968 Mexico Olympics, he ran second leg on the 4x100 meters Jamaican relay team (with Lennox Miller, Clifton Forbes, and schoolboy Errol Stewart) which set the world record at 38.6 seconds in the preliminary heats and then broke the record with a 38.3 seconds clocking in the semi-finals.[2] This 38.3 clocking still stands as the world record for athletes under twenty-three years old.

Mike Fray
Personal information
NationalityJamaican
Born(1947-09-03)3 September 1947
Jamaica
Died6 November 2019(2019-11-06) (aged 72)
Kingston, Jamaica
Sport
SportTrack and field
Medal record
Men's athletics
Representing  Jamaica
British Empire and Commonwealth Games
Silver medal – second place 1966 Kingston 4×110 yards relay

Fray enjoyed success with the Jamaican relay team in other competitions, including a silver medal at the 1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games (alongside Pablo McNeil) and a gold medal at the 1966 Central American and Caribbean Games. He returned to the latter competition in 1970 and was an individual bronze medallist in the 100 m.[3] He won a bronze medal in the 4×400 metre relay at the 1967 Pan American Games.

Running from the tight confines of lane one, he placed seventh in the finals of the 1968 Olympic 200 meters won by Tommie Smith who is widely known for his gloved black power salute protest on the podium along with bronze medalist John Carlos. Both Smith and Carlos were banned for this protest.

In the 1972 Olympics in Munich, West Germany, Fray placed 5th. in the finals of the 100 meters which was won by Russian Valeriy Borzov.

He set a U.S. National Junior College 200 meters record in 1967 while competing for Odessa Junior College and was ranked number 10 in the world in the 200 meters in 1968 by Track & Field News magazine.[4]

As a schoolboy, he placed fourth behind Miller in the 1965 100 yards finals and second behind Miller in the 1965 220 yards finals at the Jamaican High Schools Championships.

Michael "Mike" Fray died alleged suicide by hanging on 6 November 2019. [5][6][7]

Jamaica will forever remember Fray for his remarkable, record-breaking achievements.

References
  1. Sports Reference.
  2. "Error 200 | World Athletics".
  3. CAC Games. GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 5 April 2015.
  4. "Track and Field News" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 May 2011. Retrieved 29 September 2010.
  5. "Jamaican olympian Michael Fray dies in apparent suicide". 7 November 2019.
  6. "Jamaican Olympian Michael Fray is dead". jamaicaobserver.com. Retrieved 7 November 2019.
  7. "Mike Fray". Olympedia. Retrieved 21 January 2021.
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