Edwin Moses

Moses gradually improved his public image, and by 1984, was noted for speaking out against the use of performance-enhancing drugs in sports. As a member of the 1984 U.S. Olympic team, he was chosen to represent the other athletes and recite the Olympian oath, in which athletes pledge to compete fairly and with honor. He kept his winning streak going during these Olympics, winning his second gold medal in the 400-meter hurdles.

In June of 1987, his streak of 107 consecutive wins in over nine years was finally broken. Twenty-one-year-old Danny Harris beat the 31-year-old Moses at a race in Madrid, Spain. Moses, who had felt increasing pressure as his winning streak grew longer, was actually relieved that he could now simply concentrate on running fast rather than on winning. Nevertheless, he went back to winning, taking his second world title in Rome in 1987. In that race, he beat Harris by two hundredths of a second.

At the 1988 Olympics, held in Seoul, Korea, Moses came in third in the 400-meter hurdles, winning the bronze medal with a time of 47.56. After the final race, he and the other winners gathered at the interview area, waiting for the press, and out of long habit, Moses sat in the middle seat, traditionally the place of the gold medal winner. That winner, American Andre Phillips, was horrified when a Korean official told Moses to move over and give Phillips the center seat. Phillips told Pat Putnam in Sports Illustrated, "I mean a chair is a chair. I was just going to come in and plop down." He said that he did not ask Moses how he felt about being asked to move over, but noted, "It was a strange moment." An ironic twist to this event was that in order to win the bronze, Moses ran faster than he had for either of his previous Olympic gold medals.

In 1989, Moses became a member of the U.S. Olympic Committee's substance abuse committee. He also switched sports and began training with the U.S. bobsled team, hoping to compete in the 1992 Winter Olympics. Those hopes fell through, and he also did not qualify to run the hurdles at the 1992 Summer Olympics. After that, he worked with the Special Olympics, Montana State Games, Goodwill Games, and the Olympic Festival. On July 4, 1991, Moses and Myrella Bordt divorced.

Sports Illustrated writer Frank Deford wrote that at his peak, Moses, "was not only a hero to the world, but also, within his own subculture, an adviser, a spokesman, a counselor, a mediator, a diplomat.… No athlete in any sport is so respected by his peers as Moses is in track and field." Moses' brother Irving told Kirkpatrick, "Edwin is hurdling, body and soul."