James Robinson (runner)

Last updated
James Robinson
Personal information
BornAugust 27, 1954
Medal record
Men's Athletics
Representing the United States
Pan American Games
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 1979 San Juan 800 meters

James J. Robinson Jr. (born August 27, 1954, in Oakland, California) is a former American middle distance runner. He was the dominant American 800 meters runner from the mid-1970s through the mid 1980s. He ran in the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, finishing fifth in his semi-final and not making the final. He was on the ill-fated 1980 U.S. Olympic team that did not get to compete due to the 1980 Summer Olympics boycott. He did however receive one of 461 Congressional Gold Medals created especially for the spurned athletes. [1]

His international achievements included a silver medal at the 1979 IAAF World Cup and 1981 IAAF World Cup and a gold medal at the 1979 Pan American Games over the reigning Olympic Gold Medalist and (until that week) world record holder, Alberto Juantorena. He also finished fifth in the 1983 World Championships in Athletics. Domestically he won the American title at 880 yard or 800 meters 7 times including five times in a row between 1978 and 1982. [2] During that same period while Robinson was the best outdoors, he did not win a single Indoor title. The answer to this was that Robinson's strategy didn't work on the short straightaways indoors.

Robinson's notable strategy was to come from behind, with the late rush on the home stretch always thrilling the crowd. When this strategy evaded him, it almost always looked like a mere strategic error, rather than being beaten by the competition. In the 1984 Olympic Trials in what may have been the most thrilling American 800 meter race ever, Robinson finished in fourth place, not making the team, while having exactly the same time as the third place qualifier John Marshall (1:43.92 - a lifetime best for both men). A step ahead, Earl Jones and Johnny Gray were breaking Rick Wohlhuter's American record (1:43.91) with each running the same time (1:43.74). [3] See the race on YouTube Robinson ran for the Inner City Track Club after college.

Robinson ran for McClymonds High School, finishing second in the 880 yards at the 1972 CIF California State Meet. [4] Next he ran for Laney College, winning the conference and state championships at 880 yards both 1973 and 1974, his 1974 time of 1:45.7 set the National Junior College record for 800 meters and remains the Laney College record. His 47.5 440 yards from 1974 also remains the college record. He also anchored his team's mile relay which finished second and third those respective years. [5] And he ran for the University of California at Berkeley, California where he is still #2 on the school's all-time list and the anchor man of the school record 4x400 meters relay team (held since 1976, the first year the NCAA ran the metric distance). [6]

Robinson is currently an assistant Track and Cross Country coach at California State University, East Bay. [7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steve Scott (runner)</span> American track athlete

Steve Scott is an American former track athlete and one of the greatest mile runners in American history. The silver medalist in the 1500 meters at the inaugural IAAF World Championships in Athletics in Helsinki in 1983, Scott owns the U.S. indoor record in the 2000 meters (4:58.6-1981). He held the American outdoor mile record for more than 26 years and also is the former American indoor record holder in the same event. Track & Field News ranked Scott #1 in the U.S. on 10 occasions, and 11 times during his career he was ranked in the top ten in the world by T&FN. Additionally, he participated for the US team at the 1984 Olympics. He finished 5th in the 1500 meter run at the 1988 Olympics held in Korea. Scott was also an Olympian on the 1980 Olympics team which was not allowed to go to Moscow. He ran the sub four-minute mile on 136 occasions in his career, more than any other runner in history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Decker</span> American middle-distance runner

Mary Teresa Slaney is an American retired middle-distance and long-distance runner. During her career, she won gold medals in the 1500 meters and 3000 meters at the 1983 World Championships and was the world-record holder in the mile, 5000 meters and 10,000 meters. In total, she set 17 official and unofficial world records, and she was the first woman to break 4:20 for the mile. She also set 36 U.S. national records at distances ranging from 800 meters to 10,000 meters, and has held the U.S. record in the 2000 meters and 3000 meters since the early 1980s, while her 1500 meters record stood for 32 years and her mile record stood for 38 years. In 2003, she was inducted into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chandra Cheeseborough</span> American sprinter

Chandra Danette Cheeseborough is a retired American sprinter. She won two gold medals and a silver at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Johnny Gray</span> American middle-distance runner

John Lee Gray Jr. is a retired American world class 800 meter runner from the mid-1980s to the late 1990s and the holder of the 600m world best. A four-time-Olympian (1984-1996) in 1985 he set the US record of 1:42.60 at a meet in Koblenz. That time puts Gray as the nineteenth fastest performer of all time. He came seventh in the 1984 Summer Olympics, fifth in 1988, and won the bronze medal at the Barcelona Olympics of 1992. In 1993 Gray was one of the favourites to win a gold medal at the World Championships in Stuttgart as he had won the A-race at the prestigious meeting in Zurich. However, he failed to qualify for the final in Stuttgart. He also set the world 600 meter record in 1986 at 1:12.81. In 1992 and 1993 Gray came close to breaking the world indoor record over 800 m several times. He held the US indoor record at 1:45.00 till February 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rick Wohlhuter</span> American middle-distance runner

Rick Wohlhuter is a retired American middle-distance runner.

Larry Myricks is an American former track and field athlete, who mainly competed in the long jump event. He is a two-time winner of the World Indoor Championships and a two-time winner of the World Cup. He also won a bronze medal at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, and bronze medals at the World Championships in 1987 and 1991.

Ruth Wysocki is an American middle distance runner who specialized in the 800 meters and 1500 metres.

Henry Dinwoodey Marsh is a retired runner from the United States, who made four U.S. Olympic teams and represented his native country in the men's 3,000 meter Steeplechase in three Summer Olympics, from 1976 through 1988.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Al Feuerbach</span> American track and field athlete

Allan "Al" Dean Feuerbach is a former American track and field athlete. He competed in the shot put at the 1972 and 1976 Olympics and finished in fifth and fourth place, respectively. He missed the 1980 Games due to the boycott by the United States. He did however receive one of 461 Congressional Gold Medals created especially for the athletes.

Donald J. Paige is an American retired middle-distance runner.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephanie Hightower</span> American hurdler (born 1958)

Stephanie Hightower is an American former hurdler and former president of USA Track & Field (USATF). She is a four-time U.S. Champion at 100 meter hurdles and a five-time U.S. Indoor Champion at 60 meter hurdles. She also won the 1980 U.S. Olympic Trials, but was prevented from competing in the Moscow Olympics due to the boycott. She won a silver medal at the 1987 Pan American Games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Duane Solomon</span> American middle-distance runner

Duane Renard Solomon is a retired American Olympic track athlete, primarily known for racing the 800 meters. He ran for his home country in the IAAF World Championships in 2007 and 2013 as well as in the 2012 Olympic Games. He also took the gold medal at the North American, Central American and Caribbean Under 23 Championships in 2006.

Sylvia Mosqueda is an American long distance runner notable for hard front running over an extended career at an elite level.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julie Brown (athlete)</span> American retired distance runner

Julie Ann Brown is retired distance runner. She won the IAAF World Cross Country Championship in 1975 and represented the United States in the 1984 Summer Olympics in the women's marathon.

David Patrick is a retired American hurdler. He ran the 400 metres hurdles in the 1992 Summer Olympics and was the second American in the final. The race was won by Kevin Young while setting the still standing current world record in the event.

Morgan Uceny is a retired American track and field athlete who specialized in middle distance running. Uceny won three national championships and was the 2011 IAAF Diamond League Champion at 1500 meters. She ended 2011 as the first American since 1985 to be ranked number one in the world in the 1500 m by Track & Field News.

Candy Young is a retired American track and field athlete who was a record-setting hurdler at Beaver Falls High School in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chanelle Price</span> American middle-distance runner

Chanelle Price is an American middle-distance runner who specializes in the 800-meter run. She has a personal record of 1:58.73 for the distance. She was the gold medalist at the IAAF World Indoor Championships in 2014.

Charles Douglas Brown is a retired American track and field athlete, whose specialty was the Steeplechase.

James Butler is an American former track and field sprinter who specialized in the 200-meter dash. He was an NCAA champion and winner at the Liberty Bell Classic Olympic boycott event. He represented the United States at the 1987 IAAF World Indoor Championships and placed fifth. He set a 200 m best of 20.23 seconds in 1982.

References

  1. ↑ Caroccioli, Tom; Caroccioli, Jerry (2008). Boycott: Stolen Dreams of the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games. Highland Park, IL: New Chapter Press. pp. 243–253. ISBN   978-0942257403.
  2. ↑ "USATF - Statistics - USA Outdoor Track & Field Champions". Archived from the original on 2011-06-10. Retrieved 2011-04-18.
  3. ↑ http://www.legacy.usatf.org/statistics/champions/OlympicTrials/HistoryOfTheOlympicTrials.pdf Archived 2016-03-27 at the Wayback Machine Olympic Trials results
  4. ↑ "California State Meet Results - 1915 to present". Hank Lawson. Archived from the original on 2014-10-06. Retrieved 2012-12-25.
  5. ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-06-27. Retrieved 2010-09-23.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  6. ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-04-12. Retrieved 2015-04-05.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. ↑ "2021 Men's Cross Country Roster".
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.