Edwin Moses
Edwin Moses won 122 consecutive races in the 400-meter hurdles, including two Olympic gold medals.
The oldest form of organized sport is track and field athletics, comprised of as many as 25 distinct events. While the sport was established by the late 1800s in many countries, it wasn’t until the Olympic Games were revived in 1896 that interest in athletics spread worldwide. The sport was contested at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens as a men’s only event. Women’s track and field event’s debuted at the 1928 Amsterdam Games.
Men’s track events include the 100-, 200-, 400-, 800-, 1,500-, 5,000-, and 10,000-metre runs; the 3,000-metre steeplechase; the 110- and 400-metre hurdles; and the 400- and 1,500-metre relays. Field events include the high jump, pole vault, long jump, triple jump, shot put, discus throw, hammer throw and javelin throw. The decathlon combines 10 track and field events. The only difference in women’s track and field is a 100-metre hurdles event rather than 110-metres. And women compete in a heptathlon, which includes seven events, rather than 10.
Track and field champions from the United States include Eddie Tolan, Jesse Owens and Carl Lewis in the 100-metre sprint, Wilma Rudolph in all three sprints and Florence Griffith Joyner in the 100- and 200-metres. Lee Evans and Michael Johnson set world records in the 400-metres. Harrison Dillard, Glenn Davis and Edwin Moses were standout in hurdles, while Al Oerter is legendary in the discus throw and Jesse Owens and Bob Beamon in the long jump event.
Para track and field events have been contested at every Summer Paralympics since the first games in 1960. The United States dominated para track and field events from 1964 to 1996.
Edwin Moses won 122 consecutive races in the 400-meter hurdles, including two Olympic gold medals.
Evelyn Ashford won four gold medals and one silver medal while competing in four Olympic Games.
Florence Griffith Joyner was one of the most flamboyant runners of all time. Known for her long hair, long fingernails and bright track suits, FloJo won three Olympic gold medals and two silvers.
At the Munich 1972 Olympic Games, Frank Shorter became the first American man in 64 years to win an Olympic marathon gold medal. He added a silver at the Montreal 1976 Olympic Games.
Frank Wykoff won gold medals in the 4×100-meter relay at three consecutive Olympic Games, the first athlete to accomplish that feat.
Diagnosed with Graves’ disease, sprinter Gail Devers nearly needed her feet amputated. But she recovered to win three gold medals and competed in five Olympic Games.
Glenn “Jeep” Davis had blazing speed that carried him to three Olympic gold medals. Following his track career, he played two years of professional football in the NFL before becoming a track coach.
Harrison “Bones” Dillard is the only man to win Olympic gold medals in the 100-meter dash and the 110-meter hurdles. In between the 1948 and 1952 Olympic Games, he served in the U.S. Army.
Jackie Joyner-Kersee won six Olympic medals (three gold) and was named the Greatest Female Athlete of the 20th Century by Sports Illustrated.
James Connolly dropped out of Harvard to participate in the first-ever modern Olympics, the Athens 1896 Olympic Games, where he placed first in the very first event, the triple jump.
The first Native American to win an Olympic gold medal for the U.S., Jim Thorpe won the pentathlon and decathlon at the Stockholm 1912 Olympic Games. He later played pro baseball and football.
Joan Benoit had knee surgery 17 days before the 1984 U.S. Olympic Trials, but finished first at the Trials and won gold in the first-ever Olympic women’s marathon at the Los Angeles 1984 Olympic Games.
John Carlos and Tommie Smith’s protest for racial equality has echoed throughout the sports world since the Mexico City 1968 Olympic Games.
Lee Calhoun was the first male athlete to win consecutive Olympics gold medals in the 110-meter hurdles, winning photo finishes at the Melbourne 1956 Olympic Games and Rome 1960 Olympic Games.
A founding member of the Olympic Project for Human Rights, Lee Evans (center) won gold medals in the 400-meter run and the 4×400-meter relay at the Mexico City 1968 Olympic Games.
LeRoy Walker was the first Black American to coach a U.S. Olympic Team, guiding the men’s track and field team to six gold medals in the Montreal 1976 Olympics.
Mal Whitfield won gold in the 800-meter run and the 4x-400-meter relay at the London 1948 Olympic Games, becoming the first American active-duty service member to win an Olympic gold medal.
Unable to get a job as a New York City policeman, Mel Sheppard focused on training for The Olympics and won four gold medals and one silver as a middle-distance runner.
Michael Johnson was one of the world’s best sprinters of his time, capturing four Olympic gold medals over three Olympic Games and maintaining his speed even as he aged.
Milt Campbell’s first-ever decathlon was at the 1952 U.S. Olympic Trials. He went on to win silver at the Helsinki 1952 Olympic Games. Campbell won gold at the Melbourne 1956 Olympic Games.
U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum offers parking in the adjacent Park Union District lot for $7.50 per-day. Metered parking is also available on Sierra Madre and Vermijo.
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