1975- American track and field athlete Marion Jones Marion Jones is widely considered to be today's greatest female athlete and one of the greatest athletes of all time. She became the first woman to win five medals in a single Olympics when she won three gold and two bronze medals in the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney, Australia. Jones has also won scores of other medals and awards, in…
1958- American track and field athlete Mary Decker is remembered by many for what she did not do, rather than what she did. Although Decker, who started her impressive career as a pre-teen, is one of the world's fastest middle-distance runners ever, bad circumstances interfered in Decker's attempts to win an Olympic gold medal. Throughout her long running career, Decker pushed her bo…
1960- American sprinter Valerie Brisco-Hooks Like a shooting star, sprinter Valerie Brisco-Hooks shone for a brief, glorious moment in the public's eye before speeding away, never to reach the same vaunted height. While she shone, however, Brisco-Hooks burned especially bright. In the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, Brisco-Hooks accomplished what no other athlete, man or woman, ha…
1962- American track and field athlete Known as the greatest multi-event track and field athlete of all time, Jackie Joyner-Kersee is the winner of three Olympic gold medals, one silver medal, and two bronze medals, more than any other woman has ever won in the history of track and field. She competed in the 1984, 1988, 1992, and 1996 Olympics and is the first American woman to win over 7,000 poin…
1945- American track and field athlete She became a world champion barely out of high school. She broke records in almost all the track events in which she competed. She was the first person, man or woman, to win consecutive Olympic gold medals for the 100-meter race. Yet, despite three Olympic gold medals and one silver medal, her accomplishments seemed to slip by with barely a commentary from th…
1944- American track and field athlete Tommie Smith Sprinter Tommie Smith once held eleven world and American records at the same time, but is most noted for his silent civil rights protest at the Mexico City Olympics in 1968. Standing on the podium after accepting his gold medal for a world-record performance in the 200 meters, Smith raised one black-gloved fist in a salute to African-Amer…
1966- American track and field athlete Gail Devers will go down as one of the fastest female combination sprinters and hurdlers in history, as well as one of the greatest track and field athletes. While her awards and accomplishments, including setting several American and world records in various indoor and outdoor events, are impressive, they are only half the story. Devers's triumph over…
1923- American track and field athlete Alice Coachman became the first black woman of any nationality to win a gold medal at the Olympics with her victory was in the high jump at the 1948 Summer Games in London. Coachman broke jump records at her high school and college, then became the U.S. national high jump champion before competing in the Olympics. She is also the first African-American woman …
1963- Ukrainian pole vaulter In his 18-year career, pole vaulter Sergei Bubka set the world record 35 times, won gold medals at six consecutive world championships, and won an Olympic gold medal in Seoul in 1988. He is widely considered to be the greatest pole vaulter in history, and is the only person ever to clear a bar 20 feet overhead. …
1938- American track and field athlete Lakota Sioux runner Billy Mills was responsible for one of the greatest upsets in Olympic history. A complete unknown in the track-and-field world, Mills outran a field of international track stars to win the gold medal in the 10,000-meter race in the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo. Mills's win was the first gold medal by any American in this event, and w…
1957- American track and field athlete Recognized as one of track and field history's most accomplished sprinters, Evelyn Ashford is the only woman in U.S. track history to win four Olympic gold medals—one in the 100-meter sprint and three as part of Evelyn Ashford 4 × 100-meter relay teams. Two years after giving birth to her daughter, she won a silver medal for the 10…
1942-2002 American track and field athlete Bob Hayes broke records on the athletics track and the football field, and is the only person ever to win both an Olympic gold medal and a Super Bowl ring. In his prime, he was considered the world's fastest human. His speed on the football field led coaches to adopt and refine complicated zone defense strategies, since no other player could catch …
1967- Canadian sprinter Canadian sprinter Donovan Bailey set the world record in a 100-meter race in 1996, earning the distinction of "world's fastest man." At his peak during the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta, the Jamaican-born Bailey ran a record-setting, gold-medal-winning time of 9.84 seconds. With three teammates, he also captured the gold in the 4×100-meter…
1969- Irish track and field athlete Irish middle distance runner Sonia O'Sullivan has mastered the 5,000 meter race. In addition to her wins in the 5,000 meter, she established several records over the years, running the 2,000 meter in 5:25:63 (world record), the 3,000 meter in 8:21:64 (European record), and setting the record for the two mile. Gaining international visibility through her p…
1961- Canadian sprinter Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson was once considered the fastest man on earth, and had an Olympic gold medal to prove it. However, when he was found to be using illegal performance-enhancing drugs, he was stripped of his honors and suspended from competition. …
1961- American track and field athlete Carl Lewis, the greatest track and field star of the 20th century, attracted intense attention to his sport in the United States in the 1980s. His early successes as a sprinter and long-jumper inspired writers to compare him to Jesse Owens, even before he equaled Owens' feat of winning four gold medals in a single Olympics. Negative publicity about his…
1913-1980 American track and field athlete Few athletes have transcended their sports to become a symbol of an era as did Jesse Owens. Enduring a childhood marked by grinding poverty in Alabama, Owens became a star athlete in high school after his family moved to Cleveland, Ohio. His achievements earned Owens several lucrative offers to attend college as a track-and-field athlete, and he enrolled …
1940-1994 American track and field athlete Wilma Rudolph made Olympic history in 1960 when she became the first American woman ever to win three gold medals in track and field events. Her achievement would have been remarkable for any athlete, but it was even more impressive because Rudolph had spent her childhood in leg braces and special shoes; doctors had told her family that she would never wa…
1929- English track and field athlete In 1954, Roger Bannister became the first person to run a mile in under four minutes. A noted British runner, he won the British mile championships in 1951, 1953, and 1954, and also won the Empire championship in 1954. In addition, he won the European 1,500 meter championship in 1954. Roger Bannister The Four-Minute Mile, Lyons and Burford, 1955. …
1955- American track and field athlete Hurdler Edwin Moses is a four-time world-record holder in the 400-meter hurdles. He first set a new record with a time of 47.63 in 1976, and reduced it to 47.45 in 1977 and 47.13 in 1980. In 1983, he cut his time to 47.02. He was a two-time world champion, in 1977 and 1987, and won gold medals in the Olympics in 1976 and 1984. Address: c/o Laureus World Sport…
1968- Russian track and field athlete In 1996 internationally renowned Russian track and field athlete Svetlana Masterkova became the second women ever to win Olympic gold medals in both the Svetlana Masterkova 1500 and 800 meter runs. Previous to Masterkova, only Tatyana Kazankina had accomplished the same feat, earning her double gold at the Montreal Games 20 years before. Participating i…
1973- Australian track and field athlete Australian runner Cathy Freeman is the first Aborigine ever to compete in the Olympics, and the first to wave the Aboriginal flag at a sporting event. Freeman lit the Olympic flame at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, and won a gold medal in the 400 meters at those Games. Cathy Freeman Address: c/o Athletics Australia, Suite 22, Fawkner Tower, 431 St. Kil…
1965- American track and field athlete In 1995, sprinter Gwen Torrence was ranked No. 1 in the 100 meters and the 200 meters by Track and Field Gwen Torrence News; the magazine also named her the top American athlete overall. She has won numerous championships, and at the 1992 Olympics, won gold medals in the 200 meters and 4 × 100 meter relay, as well as a silver medal in the 4 �…
1967- American track and field athlete The first man ever to win both 200-meter and 400-meter dashes at the same world championship, Michael Johnson is considered by many the greatest combined 200/400 sprinter who ever lived. One of the most colorful competitors at the Summer Olympic Games of 1992, 1996, and 2000, Johnson captured a total of five gold medals in Olympic competition, as well as nine…
1935- American decathlete Rafer Johnson's victory in the decathlon at the 1960 Summer Olympic Games in Rome, Italy, earned him the title of "world's greatest athlete," but the track star never competed in another Olympiad again. Johnson was one of the outstanding college athletes of his day, breaking several track and field records and winning Sports Illustrated'…
1959-1998 American sprinter Florence Griffith Joyner, known as "FloJo," was the fastest woman alive. She won three gold medals at the Summer Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea in 1988-in the 100- and 200-meter runs, and the 4×100 meter relay. Her world records for the 100 and 200 meters remain unbroken. The vibrant Griffith Joyner often wore flashy running outfits and long, b…
