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Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Born | Modesto, California, United States | October 5, 1942||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 1.87 m (6 ft 2 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Weight | 78 kg (172 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | Athletics | ||||||||||||||||||||
Event(s) | 400 m, 400 m hurdles | ||||||||||||||||||||
Club | Southern California Striders, Anaheim | ||||||||||||||||||||
Achievements and titles | |||||||||||||||||||||
Personal best(s) | 400 m – 46.6 (1967) 880 yd – 1:48.6 (1963) 400 mH – 49.06 (1968) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Ronald Howard "Ron" Whitney (born October 5, 1942) is a retired American hurdler and sprinter. Known for his fast finish, he was sixth in the 400 m hurdles at the 1968 Summer Olympics. [1] He had entered the race as one of the favorites, [2] having been ranked #1 in the world in 1967 [3] and winning the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in the event for the second time earlier that year. [4] At the Olympics, his first heat victory established a new Olympic record, only to be surpassed by David Hemery two days later. [5]
Previously he had been the Pan American Games champion in the same event. [6] While working on his master's degree at Colorado State University, he was the 1967 Gold Medalist at the World University Games. He also had won bronze two years earlier [5] and while competing for Occidental College, where he was coached by Jim Bush, was runner up at the NCAA Championships in 1963.
At Thomas Downey High School in Modesto, California, [7] Whitney was the champion at the 1960 Golden West Invitational, the equivalent of a national champion, at 800 m, [8] a week after finishing fourth in the CIF California State Meet in the same event. [9]
Whitney continued to compete into masters age groups as a pioneer of masters athletics. [10]
Whitney continues to be involved in the sport as head track and field coach at Santa Rosa Junior College. [11] He is a member of the Mt. SAC Relays Hall of Fame and the Occidental College Hall of Fame. [12]
Yolanda Gail Devers is an American retired track and field sprinter who competed in the 60 metres, 60 m hurdles, 100 m and 100 m hurdles. One of the greatest and most decorated female sprinters of all time, she was the 1993, 1997 and 2004 world indoor champion in the 60 m, while in the 60 m hurdles, she was the 2003 world indoor champion and 2004 silver medalist. In the 100 m, she is the second woman in history to defend an Olympic 100 m title, winning gold at both the 1992 and 1996 Olympics. She was also the 1993 world champion in the event, becoming the first ever female sprinter to simultaneously hold the world and Olympic titles in the 100m. In the 100 m hurdles, she was the 1993, 1995 and 1999 world champion, and the 1991 and 2001 world silver medalist. In 2011, she was inducted into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame.
Earl John "Tommy" Thomson was a Canadian athlete, a specialist in the high hurdles. In 1920 he became the first Olympic gold medalist in 110 m hurdles from outside the United States.
David Peter Hemery, is a British former track and field athlete, best known as the winner of the 400 metres hurdles at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City.
George Lawrence "Larry" James, also known as James Swift, was an American track athlete. At the 1968 Olympics he won a gold medal in the 4 × 400 m relay and a silver in the individual 400 m.
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Joshua Culbreath was an American athlete who competed mainly in the 400 meter hurdles—the national outdoor champion from 1953 to 1955; three-time winner of the event in the Penn Relays in the same years, and Olympic bronze medal winner in 1956, while he was serving in the U.S. Marine Corps; and world record holder in 1957. Culbreath was inducted into the United States Marine Corps Sports Hall of Fame in 2008.
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The Southern California Striders is a track and field athletics club based in Los Angeles, California. From its foundation in 1955 through the 1980s it was an elite club producing numerous national and Olympic champions. For a time in the 1970s it was called the Tobias Striders for sponsorship reasons. From the 1990s to 2006 the club was restricted to masters athletics and still produces national champions in older age classes. After 2006 it became a nonprofit open to all ages.
Geoffrey Peter "Geoff" Vanderstock is an American track and field athlete primarily known for running hurdles. He was once the world record holder in the 400 metres hurdles. His 48.94 was set at the high altitude United States Olympic Trials at Echo Summit, California, on September 11, 1968. He was the first man to run the event under 49 seconds. The hand time took .3 off the previous record held by Rex Cawley. A month later at the 1968 Summer Olympics, he finished 4th in a tight race between 2nd place and 4th place, and given a time of 49.06, while watching David Hemery demolish his world record running 48.12. See the Olympic race on YouTube
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