Calvin Smith

Template:Short description {{#invoke:Other people|otherPeople}} Template:Infobox sportsperson Calvin Smith (born January 8, 1961) is a former sprint track and field athlete from the United States. He is a former world record holder in the 100-meter sprint with 9.93 seconds in 1983 and was twice world champion over 200 metres, in 1983 and 1987. He became Olympic champion in the 4 × 100-meter relay in 1984. He was born in Bolton, Mississippi.

Background

Smith was brought up in Bolton, Mississippi, and attended Sumner Hill High School in Clinton, Mississippi.<ref name="csmithbook">Template:Cite book</ref>

Smith had a dazzling collegiate career at the University of Alabama. Smith set the 100 metre world record on July 3, 1983 at the U.S. Olympic Festival at Colorado Springs, with a run of 9.93 seconds. In doing so, he broke the previous record set by Jim Hines, which had lasted for almost 15 years. Both Hines' and Smith's records were set at high altitude.

At the inaugural Athletics World Championships in 1983, Smith claimed gold medals in the 200 m and the 4 × 100-meters relay (which the U.S. team won in world record time), as well as a silver medal behind Carl Lewis in the 100 meters.

August 1983 also saw Smith become the first athlete to run under 10 seconds (9.97) for the 100 m and under 20 seconds (19.99) for the 200 meters in the same evening in Zürich, Switzerland.

At the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, Smith became champion as part of the U.S. 4 × 100-meters relay team, again establishing a new world record in this event.

At the 1987 World Championships, Smith successfully defended his 200-meter title. (At that time, the World Championships were held once every four years, whereas since 1991 they are held every two years.)

At the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, Smith was involved in the most controversial Olympic 100 meters final of all time and ended up in third position (after the initial winner, Ben Johnson, was disqualified: SEE below).

Smith missed out on what seemed like a likely win in the 4 × 100-meters relay in Seoul because the U.S. team did not reach the final following a disqualification for passing the baton outside the legal area.

Smith continued to run for the U.S. national team into the 1990s. In the later years of his career, he was named captain of the U.S. track and field team at major events including the Olympic Games and World Championships.

1988 Olympics

Ben Johnson of Canada crossed the line first, with Lewis second, Linford Christie of Great Britain third, and Smith fourth. When Johnson tested positive for anabolic steroids and was stripped of his title, Smith was upgraded to third position. Johnson was not the only participant whose success was questioned: Lewis had tested positive at the Olympic Trials for pseudoephedrine, ephedrine and phenylpropanolamine. Lewis defended himself, claiming that he had accidentally consumed the banned substances. After the supplements that he had taken were analyzed to prove his claims, the USOC accepted his claim of inadvertent use, since a dietary supplement he ingested was found to contain "Ma huang", the Chinese name for Ephedra (ephedrine is known to help weight loss).<ref name=":0" /> Fellow Santa Monica Track Club teammates Joe DeLoach and Floyd Heard were also found to have the same banned stimulants in their systems, and were cleared to compete for the same reason.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="autogenerated1">Template:Cite news</ref>

The highest level of the stimulants Lewis recorded was 6 ppm, which was regarded as a positive test in 1988 but is now regarded as negative test. The acceptable level has been raised to ten parts per million for ephedrine and twenty-five parts per million for other substances.<ref name=":0">Wallechinsky and Loucky, The Complete Book of the Olympics (2012 edition), page 61</ref> According to the IOC rules at the time, positive tests with levels lower than 10 ppm were cause of further investigation but not immediate ban. Neal Benowitz, a professor of medicine at UC San Francisco who is an expert on ephedrine and other stimulants, agreed that "These [levels] are what you'd see from someone taking cold or allergy medicines and are unlikely to have any effect on performance."<ref name=":0" />

Christie was found to have metabolites of pseudoephedrine in his urine after a 200 m heat at the same Olympics, but was later cleared of any wrongdoing.<ref name="guardianmackay">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Of the finalists, only Smith and sixth-placed Robson da Silva never failed a drug test during their careers. Smith later said: "I should have been the gold medalist."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Personal life

Smith is married to Melanie, whom he met at college, and has two children, a daughter Brittney and a son Calvin Smith Jr.<ref name="csmithbook"/>

Smith retired from athletics in 1996 and was then for two years an assistant coach at the University of Alabama. He then moved with his family to Tampa, Florida where he has pursued a variety of careers. He is currently working for a non-profit agency that provides people with medical assistance.<ref name="csmithbook"/>

International competitions

1980	Pan American Junior Championships	Sudbury, Canada	2nd	100 m	10.51
			2nd	200 m	20.94 w
			1st	4 × 100 m	39.61
1981	Universiade	Bucharest, Romania	2nd	100 m	10.26
			1st	4 × 100 m	38.70
1983	World Championships	Helsinki, Finland	2nd	100 m	10.21
			1st	200 m	20.14
			1st	4 × 100 m	37.86 WR
1984	Olympic Games	Los Angeles, United States	1st	4 × 100 m	37.83 WR
1987	World Championships	Rome, Italy	1st	200 m	20.16
1988	Olympic Games	Seoul, South Korea	3rd	100 m	9.99
1992	World Cup	Havana, Cuba	3rd	100 m	10.33
			1st	4 × 100 m	38.48

Personal bests

Event	Date	Venue	Time (seconds)
100 metres	3 July 1983	Colorado Springs, United States	9.93
200 metres	24 August 1983	Zürich, Switzerland	19.99

Smith's 19.99 run, made him the second man in history to achieve both a sub-10 second 100 m and a sub-20 second 200 m. Carl Lewis having achieved the feat 66 days earlier.

• All information taken from IAAF Profile.<ref name=IAAFbio>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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Rankings

Smith was ranked among the best in the USA and the world in both the 100 and 200 m sprint events from 1980 to 1993, according to the votes of the experts of Track and Field News.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}Template:Dead link</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}Template:Dead link</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}Template:Dead link</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}Template:Dead link</ref> Template:Col-begin Template:Col-2

100 meters

Year	World rank	US rank
1980	10th	7th
1981	-	9th
1982	2nd	2nd
1983	2nd	2nd
1984	6th	5th
1985	6th	3rd
1986	6th	2nd
1987	5th	2nd
1988	2nd	2nd
1989	7th	5th
1990	6th	4th
1991	-	-
1992	-	10th
1993	-	7th

200 meters

Year	World rank	US rank
1980	-	-
1981	-	-
1982	2nd	2nd
1983	1st	1st
1984	-	-
1985	2nd	2nd
1986	3rd	3rd
1987	2nd	2nd
1988	4th	3rd
1989	5th	3rd
1990	-	-
1991	-	-
1992	-	-
1993	-	-

Records and World Bests

Smith achieved the following world records and world best times during his illustrious career:<ref>Progression of IAAF World Records 2011 Edition, Editor Imre Matrahazi, IAAF Athletics, p 521-522.</ref>

• world record of 9.93 s at the United States Air Force Academy on 3 July 1983.
• world low-altitude best time of 9.97 s in Zürich on 24 August 1983.
• world record at the 4 × 100 m relay in Helsinki on 10 August 1983.
• world record in the 4 × 100 m relay in Los Angeles on 11 August 1984.

Track records

As of September 2024, Smith holds the following track records for 100 metres.

Location	Time	Windspeed m/s	Date	Notes
Bratislava	10.07	+1.4	09/06/1988
Chemnitz	9.91	+2.1	09/07/1982
Colorado Springs, Colorado	9.93	+1.4	03/07/1983	World record until 1988 Olympic final

Accolades

In 2007, Smith was inducted into the United States Track and Field Hall of Fame.<ref name=hof_usa>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 2014, Smith was inducted into the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame.<ref name=hof_mis>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 2016, Smith was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame.<ref name=hof_ala>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

See also

• Men's 100 metres world record progression

External links

• Template:World Athletics
• Template:USATF
• Template:USATF Hall of Fame
• Calvin Smith at Run-Down.com