Lavy Pinto

Lavy Pinto
Full name	Lavinho Thomas Pinto
nation	India
birthday	October 23, 1929
place of birth	Nairobi ,  British East Africa
date of death	February 15, 2020
Place of death	Chicago ,  United States
Career
discipline	sprint
Best performance	100 m: 10.6 s (1952)
Medal table
Asian Games 2 × 1 × 0 ×
Asian Games gold 1951 New Delhi 100 m gold 1951 New Delhi 200 m silver 1951 New Delhi 4 × 100 m

Lavinho Thomas "Lavy" Pinto (born October 23, 1929 in Nairobi ; † February 15, 2020 in Chicago ) was an Indian sprinter . He was the first Indian to win gold medals in athletics at the Asian Games .

biography

Lavy Pinto was born in 1929 in Nairobi, now the capital of Kenya , in the UK , and grew up in Dhobi Talao, a southern district of Bombay (now Mumbai ). According to goanvoice.org.uk , a community forum for people from Goa , his parents were originally from Mapusa . He attended the renowned St. Xaviers School and College founded by German Jesuits , from which he graduated in 1948. Even in his school days he was an outstanding athlete. He joined the athletics group founded by Dorabji Tata , where he was mentored by the respected coach Benson Proudfoot.

In 1949, Pinto won the 100-meter and 200-meter runs at the Bombay State Athletic Meet . At the 14th edition of the biennial Indian Olympic Games , he set a new Indian record over 200 meters with 21.7 seconds and won over the 100 and 200 meters. He also started in the 4 x 400 meter relay , but was handicapped due to a foot injury. The Indian season won silver behind that from Japan.

Pinto became the captain of the eight-member Indian athletics team at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki appointed. To prepare, he went to England for a two-month training period, where he trained at the London Athletic Club under Franz Stampfl . In Helsinki he finished fourth in the semi-finals of the 100-meter run with 10.7 seconds and reached the semi-finals of the 200-meter run . Pinto later reported that he saw the ashes of the running track thrown up by the Australian John Treloar , who ran next to him, at the start, and that over the 100 meters his start was too slow. A few months later, in February 1953, Pinto won the gold medal over 100 meters and 200 meters at the 18th National Athletics Meeting in Jabalpur , both with new personal bests.

After finishing his sports career, Pinto worked for the Tata family, the Taj Mahal Hotel and Air India . In 1969 he moved to Chicago . He died there in February 2020 at the age of 90. He was the father of five children.

Web links

• Lavy Pinto. In: Olympedia. Retrieved June 2, 2020 . 

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Paul Tchir: Two Recent Deaths. In: olympstats.com. June 2, 2020, accessed on June 2, 2020 . 
2. ↑ ^{a b} Goan Voice UK: Newsletter. Issue 2006-34. Aug. 24, 2006. In: goanvoice.org.uk. August 24, 2006, accessed June 2, 2020 . 
3. ↑ ^{a b c d} Venkat Ananth: The untold story of Lavy Pinto - India's first (and only) 100m Asiad gold medalist. In: livemint.com. October 1, 2014, accessed June 2, 2020 .