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| Nationality |  American | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | August 4, 1967 Los Angeles, California, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 150 lb (68 kg) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Running | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Event(s) | 100 metres, 200 metres | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| College team | UCLA Bruins | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | Santa Monica Track Club | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Michael Lawrence Marsh (born August 4, 1967) is a retired American sprinter, the 1992 Olympic champion in the 200 m.
Marsh was born in Los Angeles, and attended high school at Hawthorne High School in Hawthorne, California where he was overshadowed by Henry Thomas, who he joined on numerous championship relays. Marsh, Thomas, Michael Graham and Sean Kelly joined to bring Hawthorne the National High School Record in the 4 × 400 m relay set at the Texas Relays. The team joined to celebrate the silver anniversary of the record in 2010. [1] When Thomas was sidelined with an appendix attack, requiring surgery just before the qualification cycle, Marsh won the 1985 CIF California State Meet in the 200 m. [2] He continued running with Thomas at UCLA, his best achievement was a third place at the NCAA Championships. He was inducted into the UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame in 2016.
Although Marsh could compete with the national class sprinters, he did not manage to qualify for an international event until 1991, when he qualified for the American relay team for the 1991 World Championships. Marsh ran in the heats on a team that set the Championship record, but not in the final, which was won by the Americans in World Record time. The next year, Marsh posted a time of 9.93s into a wind of 0.6 m/s at the Mt. SAC Relays in Walnut, which using a widely accepted wind/altitude correction calculator adjusted to the fastest ever intrinsic 100 m time recorded at that time in history. That was the second of what became a trend, a succession of eight early season outstanding 100 m marks set by Marsh at the Mt. SAC Relays. Marsh was elected into the Mt. SAC Relays Hall of Fame in 2003. [3]
At the 1992 US Olympic Trials, Marsh disappointingly finished fourth in the 100 m, not enough for individual qualification, but sufficient to make the relay team. In the 200 m, he placed second to Michael Johnson and qualified for the Barcelona Olympics,.
In Barcelona, Marsh surprised all observers in his semi-final. He cruised through the race, simply securing qualification for the final. His qualifying time, however, was 19.73, just one hundredth of a second slower than the standing world record (and it was the American Record). This run was remarkable for the fact that he eased off ten metres from the line, stating in later interviews that he hadn't realised how fast he was running and wanted to save some energy for the final, which was to be held only a few hours later. See the race. Unofficial split analysis from video of that run indicates he would have run faster than the world record at the time, Pietro Mennea's altitude-assisted 19.72s, if he hadn't eased off. An improvement of this record was anticipated for the final, but Marsh could not live up to those expectations. He did win the race however, beating early leader Frankie Fredericks of Namibia. [4] He did set a world record in the final of the 4 x 100 m, as the American team completed the race in 37.40.
As the reigning Olympic champion, he surprisingly did not medal in the 200 m at the 1993 World Championships, placing fourth. His 1994 season went without a win, but he did lead off the Santa Monica Track Club's 4 × 200 m relay at the Mt. SAC Relays when the team of Marsh, Leroy Burrell, Floyd Heard and Carl Lewis set a world record in the event that would stand until 2014. He returned strongly in 1995. He won the national championships in the 100 m, and represented his country in that event at the World Championships. There, he disappointed, finishing fifth in the final. The disappointment was complete when the relay team failed to finish the heats after a bad exchange.
In 1996, Marsh managed to qualify for all three sprint events at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, and he reached the final of all three. In the 100 m, he placed 5th and in his attempt to retain his 200 m title (which was taken by Johnson in a new world record time) he finished last. The American relay team, with Marsh as the third runner, was heavily favoured to take the 4 x 100 m title, but they were surprised by the Canadian team in the final, and had to settle for silver.
He again qualified for the 100 m final at the 1997 World Championships, where he placed last due to a foot injury that required immediate surgery.
In 2021 he was elected into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame. [5]
Evelyn Ashford is an American retired track and field athlete, the 1984 Olympic champion in the 100-meter dash, and the world record-holder in the 60-yard dash. She ran under the 11-second barrier over 30 times and was the first to run under 11 seconds in an Olympic Games. Ashford has the distinction of owning the longest unbroken athletics record.
Henry Carr was an American track and field athlete who won two gold medals at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan.
Darvis "Doc" Darell Patton is a retired American track and field athlete who competed in sprinting events. He is a two-time US Champion in the 200-meter dash and won the silver medal in the event at the 2003 World Championships. He is a three-time Olympian and a four-time participant at the World Athletics Championships.
Leroy Russel Burrell is an American former track and field athlete, who twice set the world record for the 100 m sprint.
Jeremy Matthew Wariner is a retired American track athlete specializing in the 400 meters. He has won four Olympic medals and six World Championships medals. He is the fourth fastest competitor in the history of the 400 m event with a personal best of 43.45 seconds, behind Wayde van Niekerk, Michael Johnson and Butch Reynolds and the fifth fastest all-time mark when he set it in 2007.
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.
Payton Jordan was the head coach of the 1968 United States Olympic track and field team, one of the most powerful track teams ever assembled, which won a record twenty-four medals, including twelve golds. He was born in Whittier, California. Jordan was exceedingly successful as a collegiate track coach for a decade at Occidental College and for 23 years at Stanford University. A star three-sport athlete in his youth, Jordan more recently became one of the most dominant track athletes of all time, as a sprinter, in senior divisions. Jordan died of cancer at his home in Laguna Hills, California on February 5, 2009.
Walter Dix is a retired American sprinter who specialized in the 100 meters and 200 meters. He is the sixth-fastest 200-meter runner ever with a best of 19.53 seconds, and has broken the 10-second barrier in the 100 meters, with a best of 9.88 (9.80w) seconds. He was the only track athlete from USA to win 2 individual Olympic medals in Beijing.
Carmelita Jeter is a retired American sprinter, who competed in the 60 metres, 100 m and 200 m. For over a decade, between 2009 and 2021, Jeter was called the "Fastest woman alive" after running a 100 m personal best of 10.64 seconds at the 2009 Shanghai Golden Grand Prix. In the 100 m, she was the 2011 world champion and the 2012 silver medalist. She is also a three-time Olympic medallist.
Floyd Wayne Heard is a retired track and field sprinter from the United States, best known for setting the 1986 world's best year performance in the men's 200 m. He did so on 7 July 1986 at a meet in Moscow, Soviet Union, clocking 20.12s. A year later he won the title in the men's 200 m at the 1987 Pan American Games.
Jeffrey "Jeff" Williams is an American former track and field athlete who specialized in the 200-meter dash. He was the bronze medalist at the 1995 World Championships in Athletics and reached the 200 m final at the 1996 Summer Olympics. He set an American record in the 200 m indoors in 1996.
LaShauntea Moore is an American track and field sprinter who specializes in the 100- and 200-meter dash. She represented the United States at the 2004 Summer Olympics, reaching the 200 m semi-finals. She was also the NCAA outdoor champion in the event that year.
Henry Thomas is a former American sprinter known for running at the high school and collegiate levels. A versatile athlete, he was successful at 100 metres through 400 metres, holding the World Youth best for 100 metres, set in a race 7 days after he set the world Youth best in the 400 metres. He is the only athlete to simultaneously appear in both the 100m and 400m top lists.
Charonda Regina Williams is an American track and field athlete who competes in the sprint events. She is a 200-meter dash specialist and has a personal record of 22.55 seconds. She represented the United States at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics in that event. She also runs in the 100-meter dash and has a best of 11.14 seconds.
Trayvon Jaquez Bromell is an American professional track and field athlete specializing in sprinting events. He won bronze medals in the 100 meters at the 2015 and 2022 World Championships. Bromell was the 2016 World indoor 60 meters champion, and competed for the United States at the 2016 Rio and 2020 Tokyo Olympics. He was the first junior to break the 10-second barrier in the 100 meters with a time of 9.97 seconds, the former junior world record.
Michael Arthur Norman Jr. is an American sprinter. He holds the world best time in the indoor 400 meters at 44.52 seconds. Outdoors, his 43.45, set at the 2019 Mt. SAC Relays is tied as the #4 on the all time list. In 2016, he became the world junior champion in both the 200 meters and 4×100 meter relay. In 2022, he became the world champion in both the 400 meters and 4x400 meter relay.
Noah Lyles is an American professional track and field sprinter competing in the 100 meters and 200 meters. He is the 2020 Tokyo Olympic 200 m bronze medalist and a six-time World champion, having won the 200 m and 4 x 100 m at the 2019 World Championships, the 200 m at the 2022 World Championships, and the 100 m, 200 m, and 4 x 100 m events at the 2023 World Championships, becoming the first man since Usain Bolt in 2015 to complete the sprint treble at a World Championships. At the 2022 Championships, Lyles also earned a silver medal in the 4 × 100 m relay. He holds personal bests of 9.83 seconds for the 100 m and 19.31 seconds for the 200 m, the latter being an American record making him the third fastest on the respective world all-time list.
Fredrick Lee Kerley is an American professional track and field sprinter who started his career competing in the 400 meters until 2020, when he transitioned to the 100 meters and 200 meters. He has earned several medals at the World Championships in the 400 m and 4 × 400 m relay including an individual bronze and a relay gold at the 2019 edition. Kerley claimed 100 m gold in the 2022 edition.
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Micah Williams is an American sprinter.
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