1928-00-00: (Silvio Cator Wins a Silver Medal at the Paris Olympics, the Only Haitian Athlete to Win an Olympic Medal, a Moment of National Pride During the …

1928-00-00: (Silvio Cator Wins a Silver Medal at the Paris Olympics, the Only Haitian Athlete to Win an Olympic Medal, a Moment of National Pride During the Humiliation of Foreign Occupation): In 1928, Silvio Cator won a silver medal in the long jump at the Summer Olympics in Paris, becoming the only Haitian athlete to win an Olympic medal. Born on October 9, 1900, in Les Cayes, Cator’s achievement was a moment of national pride during the deepest humiliation of the occupation era. While American Marines controlled Haiti’s government, economy, and military, a Haitian athlete stood on the Olympic podium in Paris, the capital of the nation that had once enslaved Haiti and then demanded a ransom for recognizing its freedom. Cator died on July 21, 1952. The national sports stadium in Port-au-Prince, the Silvio Cator Stadium, was named in his honor, a ten-thousand-seat monument to the one moment when Haiti competed with the world on equal terms and won.