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]

Track and field Sport involving running, jumping and throwing disciplines

Track and field is a sport which includes athletic contests established on the skills of running, jumping, and throwing. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events. Track and field is categorized under the umbrella sport of athletics, which also includes road running, cross country running, and race walking.

Triple jump track and field event

The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to the long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down the track and performs a hop, a bound and then a jump into the sand pit. The triple jump was inspired by the ancient Olympic Games and has been a modern Olympics event since the Games' inception in 1896.

Pine Creek First Nation

The Pine Creek First Nation is a Saulteaux First Nation in Manitoba, Canada. The First Nation's homeland is Pine Creek 66A Reserve, located approximately 110 kilometres north of Dauphin along the southwestern shore of Lake Winnipegosis between the communities of Camperville and Duck Bay. The Rural Municipality of Mountain (South) borders it on the southwest.

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]

Ivy League Athletic conference of 8 American universities

The Ivy League is an American collegiate athletic conference comprising sports teams from eight private universities in the Northeastern United States. The term Ivy League is typically used to refer to those eight schools as a group of elite colleges beyond the sports context. The eight members are Brown University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University, and Yale University. Ivy League has connotations of academic excellence, selectivity in admissions, and social elitism.

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]

Commonwealth Games Multi-sport event involving athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations

The Commonwealth Games are an international multi-sport event involving athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and has taken place every four years since then. The Commonwealth Games were known as the British Empire Games from 1930 to 1950, the British Empire and Commonwealth Games from 1954 to 1966, and British Commonwealth Games from 1970 to 1974. It is the world's first multi-sport event which inducted equal number of women’s and men’s medal events and was implemented recently in the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

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.

1980 Summer Olympics boycott NATOs soft opposition to the Soviet Union intervention in Afghanistan.

The 1980 Summer Olympics boycott was one part of a number of actions initiated by the United States to protest the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The Soviet Union, which hosted the 1980 Summer Olympics, and its allies would later boycott the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

Soviet–Afghan War War between the Soviet Union and Afghan insurgents, 1979-89

The Soviet–Afghan War lasted over nine years, from December 1979 to February 1989. Insurgent groups known collectively as the mujahideen, as well as smaller Maoist groups, fought a guerrilla war against the Soviet Army and the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan government, mostly in the rural countryside. The mujahideen groups were backed primarily by the United States, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan, making it a Cold War proxy war. Between 562,000 and 2,000,000 civilians were killed and millions of Afghans fled the country as refugees, mostly to Pakistan and Iran.

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]

Children's Aid Societies (CAS) in Ontario, Canada, are separate, independent organizations which have each been approved by the Ontario government's Ministry of Children and Youth Services to provide child protection services. The declared goal of CASs is to "promote the best interests, protection and well being of children".

Toronto Argonauts Canadian football team based in Toronto, Canada

The Toronto Argonauts are a professional Canadian football team competing in the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). Based in Toronto, Ontario, the team was founded in 1873, and is the oldest existing professional sports team in North America still using its original name, and they are the oldest-surviving team in both the modern-day CFL and East Division. The team's origins date back to a modified version of rugby football that emerged in North America in the latter half of the nineteenth century. The Argonauts played their home games at Rogers Centre from 1989 until 2016 when the team moved to BMO Field, the fifth stadium site to host the team.

Canadian Football League Professional Canadian football league

The Canadian Football League is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a city in Canada. They are divided into two divisions: four teams in the East Division and five teams in the West Division.

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]

The Indspire Awards, until 2012 the National Aboriginal Achievement Awards, are annual awards presented by Indspire in Canada. The awards are intended to celebrate and encourage excellence in the Aboriginal community.

University of Windsor

The University of Windsor is a public comprehensive and research university in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's southernmost university. It has approximately 12,000 full-time and part-time undergraduate students and 4,000 graduate students. Founded in 1963, the University of Windsor has graduated more than 100,000 alumni.

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 holds the Canadian records for the 50 metres hurdles with 6.25 secs (1986), the 60 metres hurdles with 7.41 secs (1993), and the 110 metres hurdles with 13.08 secs (1993).

Debbie Brill Canadian high jumper

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 unique 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 USA. 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 meters in 1982, a few months after giving birth to her first child.

Phillips Idowu British triple jumper

Phillips Olaosebikan Idowu, is a British athlete who specialises in the triple jump. He is a former World Outdoor and Indoor, European Outdoor and Indoor, and Commonwealth triple jump champion. He was also a silver medalist at the 2008 Summer Olympics. Idowu is a member of the London-based Belgrave Harriers athletics club and has been for much of his career.

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.

Blessing Okagbare Nigerian track and field athlete

Blessing Okagbare-Ighoteguonor is a Nigerian track and field athlete who specializes in long jumping and short sprints. She is an Olympic and World Championships medalist in the long jump, and a world medalist in the 200 metres. She also holds the Women's 100 metres Commonwealth Games record for the fastest time at 10.85 seconds.

Michael Mason (high jumper) 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 an athletics coach and retired long and triple jumper from Canada.

Fabrizio Donato Italian triple jumper and long jumper

Fabrizio Donato is an Italian athlete competing 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.

Will Claye American track and field athlete

Will Claye is an American track and field athlete of Sierra Leonean descent who competes in the long jump and triple jump. He won a bronze medal in 2011 World Championships in Athletics and the gold medals at the 2012 IAAF World Indoor Championships and 2018 IAAF World Indoor Championships. In his Olympic debut at the 2012 Summer Olympics, Claye won a bronze medal in long jump and a silver medal in triple jump. He repeated his silver medal in the triple jump four years later. His personal best of 18.14 m, set at the Jim Bush Southern California USATF Championships in Long Beach on June 29, 2019 ranks him as the No. 3 triple jumper of all time.

Dong Bin Chinese triple jumper

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.

Omar Craddock American triple jumper

Omar Craddock is an American track and field athlete who competes in the triple jump. With the University of Florida he won one indoor and two outdoor NCAA titles in the event. He competed alongside Christian Taylor and Will Claye in a succession of elite level triple jumpers to come from the Florida Gators track and field team.

Andrea Geubelle is an American track and field athlete who competes in the long jump and triple jump. Andrea won the national title in 2013. She has personal records of 6.70 m and 14.18 m, respectively.

Tori Bowie American sprinter and long jumper

Frentorish"Tori" Bowie is an American track and field athlete, who primarily competes in the 100 m and the 200 m. She has a personal record of 6.95 m for the long jump, set in 2014. She is the 2017 100m world champion, a 2016 Olympian and a three-time Olympic medalist.

Marquis Dendy American athletics competitor

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.

Chris Benard American male triple jumper

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. He was a finalist at the 2016 IAAF World Indoor 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.

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.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.
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.