John Smith (athlete)
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Born | 1950-08-05 | |||||||||||||||
Medal record
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John Walton Smith (born August 5, 1950 in Los Angeles, California) is a former American athlete, who competed in the sprints events during his career. He is best known for winning the men's 400 metres event at the 1971 Pan American Games. He remains the world record holder for the 440 yard dash at 44.5 seconds.[1] He set the record while winning the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships on June 26, 1971 while running for the Southern California Striders.[2] The record has stood since then due to metrification in the sport. Contemporary athletes running the 400 metres rarely run or are timed officially for the extra 2.34 meters to equal 440 yards.
After retiring from competition, he became a sprint coach, training Maurice Greene and Ato Boldon amongst others. At the time, his team called HSI[3] (standing for Hudson Smith International) was the top sprint team in the world.[1][4] He now coaches Carmelita Jeter,[5] who holds the second fastest 100 m time after Florence Griffith-Joyner. He also coaches Norwegian sprinter Jaysuma Saidy Ndure, Nigerian sprinter Blessing Okagbare, Commonwealth Games Champion, and English Gardner, NCAA Champion at Oregon and US Outdoor Champion.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 http://www.uclabruins.com/sports/m-track/mtt/smith_john00.html UCLA Bio
- ↑ http://www.usatf.org/statistics/USA-Champions/USAOutdoorTF/men/400m.aspx
- ↑ http://speedendurance.com/2008/01/12/hsi-john-smith-drills-session-with-jon-drummond/
- ↑ http://www.hsi.net/sports-track-and-field.php
- ↑ Video on YouTube
- Articles which use infobox templates with no data rows
- 1950 births
- Living people
- American sprinters
- Olympic track and field athletes of the United States
- Athletes (track and field) at the 1971 Pan American Games
- Athletes (track and field) at the 1972 Summer Olympics
- University of California, Los Angeles alumni
- Sportspeople from Los Angeles, California
- American track and field coaches
- Track and field people from California