Top Ten Runners in Track and Field Olympics

There are many talented men and women in the track and field sector of the Olympics, past and present, but here I have summed up a list of my top 10 favorite runners in Olympic history, both American and abroad. I have listed a synopsis of each runner, and why they are my top 10 favorite from life struggles to awesome achievements.

1. Michael Johnson, also known as 'The Man With The Golden Shoes' for his fast performance at the 1996 Olympics, was born in 1967 in Dallas Texas. He became the first man to win the gold medal for both the 200 and 400 meter race, and he did it with his famous golden shoes. At the age of 34, Johnson announced his retirement at the Goodwill Games in Australia in the year 2000.

2. Carl Lewis was born in Birminham Alabama in 1961, and lived amongst the roughest racial violence episodes of the times. Moving to New Jersey gave his family the break they needed, where his parents both instructed Track at the schools they worked for. Lewis started his track and field career at the University of Houston. He holds two world records and three American records.

3. Jesse Owens, like Carl Lewis, was born in Alabama, but his family later moved to Cleveland Ohio. He attended the Ohio State University, where he was later known as 'The Buckey Bullet'. Lewis became the first man to receive four gold medals at the Olympic Games in 1936, and he also broke Olympic records. He would pass away in 1980 from lung cancer complications.

4. Roger Bannister was born in 1929 in Harrow, England. He was a self taught runner, and criticized for not being trained, and a medical student at the Oxford University. He became the first man to run a mile in under 4 minutes. His record was later broken by John Landy, but then they both raced against each other at the Empire Games in Vancouver, in which Bannister beat Landy by .8 seconds.

5. Joe Falcon born in 1966 and raised in Missouri, and attended the University of Arkansas where he achieved great track and field success. In 1990, Falcon was awarded the Glenn Cunningham Award for being a top American male distance runner, and also suffered an accidental injury to his Achilles tendon the same year, which took him out of the games. Also that year, Falcon ran the one mile in 3:49.31 minutes, which beat Roger Bannister's record.

6. Wilma Rudolph was born in 1940 in Clarksville, Tennesse during The Great Depression. She came from a very poor background and was born handicapped. It wasn't until she was about 12 years old that she began walking without assistance. She began her career playing basketball, but was finally noticed by a Track and Field Coach from the Tennessee State University, where she later became "the first American woman to win three gold medals in the Olympics".(Women in History)

7. Billy Mills was born in 1938 in Pine Ridge, South Dakota, and lived on an Indian Reservation. Around the age of 12, Mills was left to his sister who raised him. After graduating from the University of Kansas and joining the Marine Corp, Mills began his career as a Olympic track star. Not only did he become the first and only American to win the 10,000 meter run, but he also beat the Olympic record. He retired in 1968 because of injuries, but continues to work with young adolescents within the Indian communities. He currently still holds the record.

8. Evelyn Ashford was born in 1957 in Shreveport, Louisiana, and eventually moved around a lot due to being a daughter of a air force man. She had to start her career on an all boys track team, where she eventually won a scholarship to UCLA, and became one of the first women to receive a scholarship from them. Through her Olympic career she became the first woman to run under 11 seconds in the 100m in the Olympic Games. At age 35, in 1992 she competed in her last Olympic Games as one of four women that have receive four gold medals.

9. Marie-José Pérec born in 1968 in Guadeloupe, France, holds three French records and one Olympic record. She was well known for her 400m races, where she made the fastest record time. Like Michael Johnson, she too won both gold medals for the 200m and 400m race in one Olympic Games, and was the first to do it between both the women and men.

10. Cathy Freeman was born in 1973 in Queensland in Austrailia, and a Aborigine, who at age 16 became the first Aborigine to win a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games and later became one of two Aborigine women to become an Olympic Champion at the Olympic Games. In 2004, Freeman retired from the track, but got to leave knowing that she was called the 'Australian of the Year' in 1998 and named 'Sportswoman of the Year' in 2001 by Laureus.

Sources:

http://www.hickoksports.com/biograph/millsbilly.shtml, HickorySports.com

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evelyn_Ashford, Wikipedia

Running with Spirit, http://www.east-buc.k12.ia.us/99_00/BH/ea/ea_bio.htm,

http://www.hickoksports.com/biograph/ashforde.shtml, HickorySports.com

Women in History. Wilma Rudolph biography, http://www.lkwdpl.org/wihohio/rudo-wil.htm, Lakewood Public Library

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie-Jos%C3%A9_P%C3%A9rec, Wikipedia

Sir Roger Bannister Biography, http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/ban0bio-1, achievement.org

Jesse Owens Olympic Legend, http://www.jesseowens.com/, Luminary Group

www.carllewis.com, carllewis.com

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Johnson_(athlete), Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Falcon_(athlete), Wikipedia