Philip EDWARDS

Phil Edwards was born in British Guiana (now Guyana), but competed for Canada and studied in both Canada and the United States. He was sometimes known as “Mr. Bronze” because he is the only Olympian to have won five Olympic bronze medals in athletics, and no other medals. But he was an outstanding runner and physician. His one major international championship was the British Empire Games (now Commonwealth Games) 880 yard title in 1934. He studied at New York University and then became the first person of African descent (he was part black) to graduate from McGill Medical School. Edwards specialized in infectious diseases as a doctor, and became an authority on tropical diseases, parasitology, and diseases of the chest. He served as a consultant to the Canadian government on tropical diseases.