Randy Williams

Randy Lavelle Williams (born August 23, 1953) is an American athlete.

For the baseball player, see Randy Williams (baseball).

Randy Williams
Williams in 1972
Personal information
Born (1953-08-23) August 23, 1953
Fresno, California, U.S.
Height1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight69 kg (152 lb)
Sport
SportAthletics
Event(s)Sprint, long jump, triple jump
ClubTobias Striders
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)100 m – 10.19 (1977)
200 m – 21.15 (1983)
LJ – 8.34 m (1972)
TJ – 15.94 m (1971)
Medal record
Representing the  United States
Olympic Games
1972 Munich Long jump
1976 Montreal Long jump

Education

In high school, Williams attended Edison High School in Fresno, California. He then attended the University of Southern California.[1]

Competition

At the CIF California State Meet in 1969 he finished third, behind future rival James McAlister, in 1970 he finished second behind future NFL star, Lynn Swann and in 1971, he won the meet in what would have clearly been a meet record, had it not been wind aided.[2]

Olympics

Williams mainly competed in the long jump, in which he won a gold medal at the 1972 Olympics and a silver medal in 1976.[3] His 1972 winning jump of 8.34 m (27–4½) set the world junior record that stood for almost 40 years until it was improved by 1 cm by Sergey Morgunov on June 20, 2012. At the time it was the longest standing record on the books.[4] Williams qualified for the 1980 U.S. Olympic team but was unable to compete due to the 1980 Summer Olympics boycott. In 2007 he did receive one of 461 Congressional Gold Medals created especially for the spurned athletes.[5]

Hall of Fame

In 2009, Williams was inducted into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame.[6]

References
  1. USC OLYMPIANS: 1904–2004, USC Trojans Athletic Department, Accessed August 13, 2008.
  2. "California State Meet Results – 1915 to present". Hank Lawson. Retrieved December 25, 2012.
  3. Randy Williams. sports-reference
  4. "Morgunov leaps 8.35m World junior record* in Cheboksary". Archived from the original on June 23, 2012. Retrieved June 21, 2012.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link). iaaf.org. June 21, 2012
  5. Caroccioli, Tom; Caroccioli, Jerry. Boycott: Stolen Dreams of the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games. Highland Park, IL: New Chapter Press. pp. 243–253. ISBN 978-0942257403.
  6. "Randy Williams". usatf.org. USA Track & Field, Inc. Retrieved May 17, 2009.


Sporting positions
Preceded by
Norman Tate		 Men's long jump best year performance
1972		 Succeeded by
James McAlister



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