Fortunato Catalon
Catalon (left) shakes hands with Prince Chichibu at the 1923 Tokyo Games
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| Personal information | |
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| Nationality | Filipino |
| Born | October 14, 1897 |
| Sport | |
| Country |
 Philippines
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| Sport | Track and field |
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Medal record
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Fortunato Catalon (born 14 October 1897) was a Filipino track and field sprinter.
Born in Tolosa, Leyte, Catalon came from a family of rural farmers. He took up sports at Leyte High School, but failed in his initial attempts to join the school's track team. He took up baseball, but his talents for getting quickly to the bases were noticed and he began to train as a sprinter. A short man, his advantage over his rivals was that he was a quick starter. At a time when sprinting technique was less defined, Catalon—like most of his national peers—used to raise his arms in the air and push his chest forwards when crossing the finish line (as opposed to the lean-in technique which later became common).
He established himself as Asia's top sprinter at the age of nineteen by completing a double in the 100-yard dash and the 220-yard dash at the 1917 Far Eastern Championship Games in Tokyo. The third edition of the competition, he continued Filipino dominance in the sprints, becoming the second man to win that double (after Pio Robillos' wins in 1913) and succeeding teammates Genaro Saavedra and Nicolas Llaneta from the 1915 tournament. Fortunato's winning time of 10.0 seconds in the 100 yards was a new games record while his time of 23.8 seconds in the 220 yards was two tenths off Robillos tournament best. He returned to defend his title at the 1919 Manila Games and successfully did so by equalling his 100-yard record and bettering his 220-yard time to 23.0 seconds.
Catalon continued his success at the Far Eastern Championship Games with two further successive sprint doubles at the 1921 Shanghai Games and then the 1923 Manila Games. A 220-yard games record of 22.2 seconds came at the latter edition.
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