Michael Nepinak

Last updated

Michael Nepinak (born May 3, 1953) was a Canadian track and field athlete (triple jump) and is a member of the Pine Creek First Nation. He excelled in his sport while attending the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1978 he set a new Canadian record in triple jump at the Commonwealth Games with a jump of 16.24 metres; this record stood for eight years until it was broken by George Wright in 1987. In 1980, he was named to the Canadian Olympic Team for the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, Russia. [1] He was twice champion at the Canadian Track and Field Championships, winning in 1978 and 1980. [2]

Contents

Career

University of Pennsylvania

Michael Nepinak became a star track and field athlete while attending the University of Pennsylvania in 1977. As a third year student, Nepinak set an Ivy League outdoor track and field record in the triple jump, with a jump of 16.02 metres. During the next indoor season he continued his dominance, breaking the indoor record with a jump of 15.85 metres. One of Nepinak's biggest honours was when he was named to All-American status as he was voted the Outstanding Performer of the Heptagonal Indoor meet in 1978. [1]

Commonwealth Games

After his record-breaking season at the University of Pennsylvania, he competed for Team Canada at the Commonwealth Games in 1978. At the games, he managed to jump 16.24m which set a Canadian national record that stood for 8 years, only to be broken by George Wright in 1987. This performance was the best of Nepinak's career, and ranks him 6th all-time for outdoor triple jump in Canada. [3] This performance also stood for twenty-four years as the University of Pennsylvania's outdoor triple jump record before being passed by Tuan Wreh in 2002. This performance still stands 2nd overall at the University of Pennsylvania. [4]

1980 Summer Olympics

In 1980, Nepinak became a member of Canada's Olympic Team. [5] Unfortunately, Nepinak was never able to compete in the Olympics due to the boycott over the Soviet–Afghan War.

Results

YearCompetitionLocationResult
1976 Canadian Track and Field Championships Regina 15.05m [6]
1977 Canadian Track and Field Championships Sudbury 15.62m [6]
1977 USA–USSR Track and Field Dual Meet Series Toronto 15.70m [7]
1978 Canadian Track and Field Championships Montreal 15.28m [6]
1978 Commonwealth Games Edmonton 5th – 16.24m [8]
1979 Canadian Track and Field Championships Sherbrooke 15.26m [6]
1980 Canadian Track and Field Championships Sherbrooke 16.39m [6]

Personal life

Nepinak is a member of the Pine Creek First Nation [5] and spent the first 18 years of his life as a ward of the Children's Aid Society. [1] He was invited to a tryout with the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League in 1979 despite not playing a game of organised football in four years. However, he did play on the junior varsity team at the University of Illinois prior to transferring to the University of Pennsylvania. [9]

Awards and achievements

In 2002, Nepinak was a National Aboriginal Achievement Award recipient. [5] Now called Indspire Awards, they are given out to individuals who encourage excellence in the Aboriginal community. One year later in 2003, Nepinak was given an Honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of Windsor. [10]

Related Research Articles

Mark Anthony McKoy is a Canadian retired track and field athlete. He won the gold medal in the 110 metres hurdles at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. He also won the 60 metres hurdles title at the 1993 IAAF World Indoor Championships, and the 110 metres hurdles titles at the Commonwealth Games in 1982 and 1986. He is the World record holder for the 50 metres hurdles with 6.25 secs (1986), and the Canadian record holder in the 60 metres hurdles with 7.41 secs (1993), and the 110 metres hurdles with 13.08 secs (1993).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Debbie Brill</span> Canadian high jumper (born 1953)

Debbie Arden Brill, is a Canadian high jump athlete who at the age of 16 became the first North American woman to clear 6 feet. Her reverse jumping style—which is now almost exclusively the technique of elite high jumpers—was called the Brill Bend and was developed by her when she was a child, around the same time as Dick Fosbury was developing the similar Fosbury Flop in the US. Brill won gold in the high jump at the 1970 Commonwealth Games, and at the Pan American Games in 1971. She finished 8th in the 1972 Summer Olympics, then quit the sport in the wake of the Munich massacre, returning three years later. She won gold at the IAAF World Cup in 1979 and at the 1982 Commonwealth Games. She has held the Canadian high jump record since 1969, and set the current record of 1.99 metres in 1982, a few months after giving birth to her first child.

Kenny Harrison is a former track and field athlete competing in triple jump. He won the gold medal at the 1996 Olympic games in Atlanta.

Andrew Owusu is a Ghanaian athlete who competed in the triple jump and long jump.

Angela Chalmers is a Canadian retired track and field athlete who competed in the 1500 metres and 3000 metres. She is the 1992 Olympic bronze medallist in the 3000 metres, and a three-time Commonwealth gold medallist, winning the 1500m and 3000m in 1990, and the 3000m in 1994.

Dr. Sheila Ann Hudson is an American former track and field athlete and Olympian, ranked among the all-time greatest U.S. competitors in the women's triple jump. Throughout her career, she won nine U.S. triple jump titles, and set two world bests and nine American records. She previously held the indoor American record in the women's triple jump (46-8.25) as well as the outdoor American record in women's triple jump (47-3.5) with a wind aided all-time best jump of 48-1.25. Hudson won the silver medal at the 1994 IAAF World Cup, finished eighth at the 1995 World Indoor Championships, tenth at the 1996 Olympic Games and fifth at the 1998 IAAF World Cup.

Margaret "Meg" Elizabeth Stone is a retired Scottish discus thrower and Shot putter. She reached the Olympic finals at discus in Moscow 1980 (9th) and Los Angeles 1984 (5th). She also won the 1982 Commonwealth Games title. Her discus best of 67.48 metres has stood as the British record since 1981, while her shot put best of 18.99 metres has stood as the Scottish record since 1983.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Mason (high jumper)</span> Canadian high jumper

Michael Robert Christopher Mason is a Canadian high jumper. The 2004 World Junior champion, he has represented Canada at the 2008 Summer Olympics, 2008 IAAF World Indoor Championships, 2010 Commonwealth Games, 2012 Summer Olympics, 2014 Commonwealth Games, 2014 IAAF World Indoor Championships and the 2015 Pan American Games. His personal best for the event is 2.33 metres.

Edrick Bertholan Floréal is a track and field coach for the Texas Longhorns men's track and field and women's track and field program and retired long and triple jumper from Canada.

Ian Bernard Campbell is a retired long and triple jumper from Australia. He is best known for being "fouled" multiple times during the 1980 Moscow Olympics, under controversial circumstances.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fabrizio Donato</span> Italian triple and long jumper

Fabrizio Donato is an Italian former athlete who competed in the triple jump and occasionally in the long jump. He is known for winning gold medals at the 2001 Mediterranean Games and the 2009 European Indoor Championships, the latter in a new championship record of 17.59 metres. He is the Italian record holder with 17.60 metres outdoor and 17.73 indoor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dong Bin</span> Chinese triple jumper (born 1988)

Dong Bin is a Chinese track and field athlete who specialises in the triple jump. He is a two-time gold medallist at the Asian Indoor Athletics Championships and has a personal best of 17.58 metres, which he set winning the bronze medal at the 2016 Olympics. In 2016 he won the World Indoor Championship.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amanda Smock</span> American triple jumper

Amanda Smock is an American triple jumper who competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics. In college, she was a three-time NCAA Division II track and field champion. She won the triple jump events at the United States Outdoor Championships in 2011 and 2012, and at the Indoor Championships in 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tim Nedow</span> Canadian track and field athlete

Timothy "Tim" Nedow is a Canadian track and field athlete who competes in the shot put and discus throw. He has personal bests of 21.33 m in the shot put and 61.49 m in the discus throw. He was the bronze medalist at the 2014 Commonwealth Games and the 2013 Francophonie Games and a five-time champion of the Canadian Track and Field Championships. He has also competed at the World Championships in Athletics, in 2013, and twice at the Summer Universiade. He studied and competed athletically at the University of Tulsa and DePaul University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marquis Dendy</span> American long jumper and triple jumper

Marquis Dendy is an American track and field athlete, primarily known for horizontal jumping events. He is the 2015 National Champion in the Long jump. His winning jump, of 8.68 m, though wind aided at +3.7mps, his first jump of the competition, was the longest jump in the world under any conditions in over 5 years. He grew up in Middletown, Delaware.

Scott Neilson is a Canadian former track and field athlete who competed in the hammer throw. His personal best was 72.72 m, set in Seattle on 1 April 1978.

Charles "Charlie" Craig is an American track and field coach and former triple jumper. He was the gold medalist at the 1967 Pan American Games and was an American champion both indoors and outdoors.

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

Chris Benard is an American track and field athlete who competes in the triple jump. He holds a personal record of 17.48 m, set in 2016. Bernard represented Team USA 9-times at 2 Summer Olympics, 4 World Athletics Championships, & 3 NACAC Championships.

Charlton Ehizuelen is a Nigerian former track and field athlete who competed in the long jump and triple jump. He set personal bests of 8.26 m and 16.82 m for the events, respectively. The latter mark from 1975 remains the Nigerian indoor record.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jasmine Moore</span> American athlete (born 2001)

Jasmine Moore is an American athlete. She won the bronze medal at the 2024 Summer Olympics in both the long jump and the triple jump event. In 2022, she became the first American woman to qualify for the World Athletics Championships in both the long jump and the triple jump.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Indspire | Michael Nepinak". indspire.ca. Retrieved 2017-03-24.
  2. Canadian Championships. GBR Athletics. Retrieved 2018-03-24.
  3. "Rankings | Athletics Canada". Athletics Canada. Retrieved 2017-03-30.
  4. "Cross Country/Track & Field History, Top-10 Marks – PENN Quakers". University of Pennsylvania | Official Athletics Site. Retrieved 2017-03-30.
  5. 1 2 3 "First Nations Contributions – Student Zone – Biographies". wayback.archive-it.org. Archived from the original on 2010-12-08. Retrieved 2017-03-24.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 "CANADIAN CHAMPIONSHIPS MEDALLISTS". Athletics Canada. 2015.
  7. "Independent Press-Telegram from Long Beach, California on March 5, 1977 · Page 36". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2017-03-30.
  8. "Commonwealth Games How Canada Fared". The Globe and Mail. 14 August 1978.
  9. Abel, Allen (7 June 1979). "Olympic ideal's fine, but football can pay the rent". The Globe and Mail.
  10. van Wageningen, Ellen (20 October 2003). "It's never too late to graduate". The Windsor Star.