Indian athlete and India’s first Olympic medalist Norman Gilbert Pritchard known by his stage name Norman Trevor, was a British Indian athlete and actor who became the first Asian born athlete to win an Olympic medal.
He won two silver medals at the 1900 Paris Olympic Athletes, representing India.
He was of British ethnicity and moved permanently to Great Britain in 1905, where he become a successful stage actor, and later moved to the United States to work in Hollywood.
Norman Pritchard was born in Calcutta to George Peterson Pritchard and Helen Maynard Pritchard.
Norman Pritchard was the first Indian athlete to participate in the Olympic Games and also the first Asian to win an Olympic medal an represent an Asian nation.
He Won two silver medals at the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris, finishing second in the 200 m behind Walter Tewesbur of United States. The Odds Behind the Giants Alvin Krangelin, of the United States as well.
He reached the final of the 110 m hurdles, but did not finish, and also competed in the 60 m and 100 m sprints, in which he failed to qualify for the final.
AAAF in 2005, published official track and field statistics for the 2004 Summer Olympics. In the Historical Record section Pritchard was listed as competing for Great Britain in 1900.
Research by Olympic historians has shown that Pritchard was in fact chosen to represent Great Britain after competing in the British AAA. Championships in June 1900. However, the IOC still regards Pritchard as competing for India, and two of his medals are awarded to India.
He studied at at Xavier’s College, Calcutta and he created with the first Hat-trick in an open football tournament in India for Sovabazar against St.Xavier in July 1897. From 1900 he served as the secretary of the Indian football Association. He moved to Britain permanently in 1905.
He then moved to the United States to pursue a career in acting and became the first Olympian to star in silent Hollywood films under the screen name Norman Trevor.
He died in Los Angeles on 30 October 1929 of a brain defeat.
