Sports

Trinidad and Tobago at the 1960 Olympics

Loop News

July 10, 2024 6:00 PM ET

4 mins read

There was no Trinidad and Tobago national team at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome. Instead, four Trinidad and Tobago athletes were chosen on a West Indian team. Cliff Bertrand was on the track team, Clyde Rimple for cycling, and John Bennett and David Farfan for yachting.

The West Indies Federation was created on January 3^rd, 1958. Its express intention was to create a single political unit that would become independent from Britain as a single state. The Federation brought together a population of between 3 and 4 million people from 24 islands in the West Indies. It was initially a self-governing federal state made up of 10 provinces.

Before Rome in 1960, the West Indies Federation was represented at the 1959 Pan American Games. The team included athletes from Antigua, Guyana, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago. Mike Agostini won silver in the 100, bronze in the 200m, and also copped bronze in the 4x100m relay. Another Trinidad and Tobago athlete Wilton James was a member of the bronze medal-winning team. Basil Ince won silver in the 400m event and was part of the West Indies 4x400m relay team to win gold. Their victory over the powerful American team was a landmark as it was only the second time the Americans had been defeated in the 4x400m relay. The string of fine performances raised hopes of medals for the West Indies Federation team at Rome the following year.

The Federation of the West Indies competed at the 1960 Olympics under the name Antilles, with a team of 13 taking part in five sports. Mike Agostini had graduated from university and had moved to Australia. Basil Ince was ill and not selected for the Antilles squad, Bertrand was retained but Jackson was out.

The Antilles team earned two medals, but none of the Trinidad and Tobago athletes were on the prize rostrum. George Kerr of Jamaica won bronze in the 800m event while the team of Kerr, fellow Jamaicans Keith Gardner and Malcolm Spence, and Barbadian James Wedderburn took bronze in the 4x400m relay.

On the track, Cliff Bertrand did not advance beyond the quarterfinals of the 200m. Cyclist Clyde Rimple did not make a mark on the sprint and was 23^rd in the time trial. He Marabella-born cyclist did not finish the individual road race. Sailors Richard Bennett and David Farfan competed in the Flying Dutchman class and accumulated 893 points for 30^th place.

The West Indies Federation was not to last. Struggles between the federal government and the provincial government and between the two largest territories, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, and the smaller provinces, wrecked any hope of progress. The Federation was formally dissolved on the 31^st of May 1962. Exactly three months later, Trinidad and Tobago became an independent nation.

Cliff Bertrand went on to represent Trinidad and Tobago at the Pan American Games, where he won two bronze medals, the 1964 Olympic Games and the 1966 Commonwealth Games, he was inducted into the Trinidad and Tobago Hall of Fame in 2008. Rimple, who was an RAF Camp Sports Officer, continued to rise in England where he lived. Bennet and Farfan went on to compete at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich. Bennett passed away in 2011 and his wife Margaret donated his sailing vessel to the Trinidad and Tobago Sailing Association (TTSA).