Bill Toomey

William Anthony Toomey (born January 10, 1939) is a former American track and field competitor and the 1968 Olympic decathlon champion.[1]

Bill Toomey
Bill Toomey in 1968
Personal information
Born (1939-01-10) January 10, 1939
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Height1.87 m (6 ft 2 in)
Weight87 kg (192 lb)
Sport
SportAthletics
Event(s)Decathlon
ClubSouthern California Striders
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)100 – 10.3 (1966); 200 – 21.2 (1966); 400 – 45.6 (1968); 1500 – 4:12.7 (1964); 110H – 14.2 (1969); 400H – 51.7 (1961); HJ – 6–6¾ (2.00) (1969); PV – 14–0¼ (4.27) (1969); LJ – 26–0¼ (7.93) (1969); SP – 47–2¼ (14.38) (1969); DT – 154–2 (46.99) 1969); JT – 225–8 (68.78) (1969); Dec – 8309 (1969)

A graduate of Worcester Academy and the University of Colorado, Toomey was named ABC's Wide World of Sports Athlete of the Year in 1968. He set the world record in the decathlon in December 1969 and received the James E. Sullivan Award as the top amateur athlete in the United States in 1969.

He won 23 of the 38 decathlons he competed in, scoring over 8,000 points a dozen times. He was on the cover of the October 1969 issue of Track and Field News.[2]

A week after his world record, Toomey married Olympic gold-medal winning British athlete Mary Rand in 1969 and they had two daughters, Samantha and Sarah. They divorced after 22 years of marriage.

Toomey was head coach in track and field at the University of California at Irvine in the early 1970s. Before that he worked as a television broadcaster and marketing consultant.[1]

Toomey also competed in Masters Track and Field. [3]

References

  1. "Bill Toomey". Sports-Reference.com. Archived from the original on January 14, 2020.
  2. Past Covers 1969 Archived March 3, 2016, at the Wayback Machine. Trackandfieldnews.com. Retrieved on July 17, 2015.
  3. National Masters News. Retrieved Nov 29, 2020
Records
Preceded by
Kurt Bendlin
Men's decathlon world record holder
December 11, 1969 – September 8, 1972
Succeeded by
Mykola Avilov
Awards and achievements
Preceded by
Bob Beamon
Track & Field Athlete of the Year
1969
Succeeded by
Randy Matson


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