THE funeral for Olympic 4x400m relay bronze medallist Keith Gardner will be held today at Lourdes Church, One Eagle Rock Ave, West Orange, New Jersey at 9:30 am, with the repast at The Loft in the Wilshire Grand Hotel from 11-3 pm.

Third vice-president of the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) Vilma Charlton will represent the local governing body of track and field.

Gardner, who died on May 25 at the age of 81, was Commonwealth Games champion in the 100 yards and 120-yard hurdles in the 1950s.

He — along with Mal Spence, Jim Wedderburn and George Kerr, representing the West Indies Federation — earned bronze in the 4x400m relay at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome, Italy.

Gardner also competed in the 110m hurdles in 1960.

At the 1956 Games in Melbourne, Gardner represented Jamaica in the 100 metres, 110m hurdles, and 4x400m relay.

His name had become synonymous with sports at the MultiCare Foundation, which helps thousands of inner-city children in Kingston.

At the funeral, Charlton will pay tribute to Gardner who was one of the first Jamaicans to receive a scholarship at the University of Nebraska where he competed in 1957 and 1958.

Charlton, herself an Olympian, noted that Gardner competed in almost all events in track and field and excelled especially in ‘Europe.

A gifted and versatile youth from St Elizabeth, Gardner had been a great servant of physical education and sports, and with the JAAA held coaching and officiating duties at national and international meets, according to Charlton.

Gardner was the first sports director of the University of the West Indies, Mona, and when the Inter-Campus Games was staged for the first time he issued a special invitation to the College of Arts, Science, and Technology (CAST, now University of Technology).

Before his death, he underwent a quadruple bypass and suffered a series of strokes.