Marc Burns (born 7 January 1983) is an athlete from
Trinidad and Tobago specializing in the 100 metres and the 4 x 100 metres relay.[2]
Participating in the
2004 Summer Olympics, he was disqualified from his 100 metres heat due to a false start, thus failing to make it through to the second round.[3]
At the London Grand Prix he ran a season's best time of 9.97 seconds coming second behind former world record holder Asafa Powell.
In the
2008 Summer Olympics he competed at the
100 metres sprint and placed 2nd in his heat after
Samuel Francis in a time of 10.46 seconds. He qualified for the second round in which he improved his time to 10.05 seconds, winning his race with opponents as
Kim Collins and
Tyrone Edgar. In the semi-finals he finished 3rd (9.97 seconds) in his heat behind
Usain Bolt and
Walter Dix and qualified for the final. There he finished his race in 7th place in a time of 10.01 seconds.[2] Together with
Keston Bledman,
Aaron Armstrong and
Richard Thompson he also competed at the
4x100 metres relay. In their qualification heat they placed first in front of
Japan, the
Netherlands and
Brazil. Their time of 38.26 was the fastest of all sixteen teams participating in the first round and they qualified for the final. Armstrong was replaced by
Emmanuel Callender for the final race and they sprinted to a time of 38.06 seconds, the second time after the
Jamaican team, winning the silver medal.[2] In 2022, Burns and his teammates received the gold medal due to Jamaica's
Nesta Carter testing positive for the prohibited substance
methylhexaneamine.[5]
At the 2012 Summer Olympics, he was part of the Trinidad and Tobago team that won the silver medal in the men's 4 × 100 m relay. He was also part of the team that won the bronze medal at the
2014 Commonwealth Games.[6]
Burns was coached most of his professional career by
Henry Rolle.