Edwin Moses

For other people with the same name, seeEd Moses (disambiguation).

Edwin Moses

Moses in 2008
Personal information
Full name	Edwin Corley Moses
Born	(1955-08-31)August 31, 1955 Dayton, Ohio,U.S.
Height	6 ft 2 in (188 cm)
Weight	180 lb (82 kg)
Sport
Sport	Track and Field
Event	Hurdles
Club	Morehouse College Team adidas
Achievements and titles
Personalbest(s)	110 mH – 13.64 (1978) 400 mH – 47.02 (1983) 400 m – 45.60 (1977)
Medal record RepresentingtheUnited States International athletics competitions Event 1st 2nd 3rd Olympic Games 2 0 1 World Championships 2 0 0 IAAF World Cup 3 0 0 Goodwill Games 1 0 0 Total 8 0 1 Olympic Games 1976 Montreal 400 m hurdles 1984 Los Angeles 400 m hurdles 1988 Seoul 400 m hurdles World Championships 1983 Helsinki 400 m hurdles 1987 Rome 400 m hurdles IAAF World Cup 1977 Düsseldorf 400 m hurdles 1979 Montreal 400 m hurdles 1981 Rome 400 m hurdles Goodwill Games 1986 Moscow 400 m hurdles

Edwin Corley Moses(born August 31, 1955) is anAmericanformerhurdlerwho wongold medalsin the400 m hurdlesat the1976and1984 Olympics.Between 1977 and 1987, Moses won 107 consecutive finals (122 consecutive races) and set theworld recordin the event four times. In addition to his running, Moses was also an innovative reformer in the areas of Olympic eligibility anddrug testing.In 2000, he was elected the first Chairman of theLaureus World Sports Academy,an international service organization of world-class athletes.

Competition in 400m hurdles

Moses was born inDayton, Ohio.Having accepted an academicscholarshiptoMorehouse CollegeinAtlanta, Georgia,he majored inphysicsandindustrial engineering,while competing for the school track team. Morehouse did not have its own track, so Moses used public high school facilities around the city to train and run. Initially, Moses competed mostly in the 120-yard hurdles and440-yard dash.Before March 1976, he ran only one 400 m hurdles race, but once he began focusing on the event he made remarkable progress. With his height of 6'2 ", Moses' trademark technique was to take a consistent 13 steps between each of the hurdles, pulling away in the second half of the race as his rivals often took 15 stridesor changed their stride pattern.That year, he qualified for the U.S. team for the1976 Summer OlympicsinMontreal.In his first international meet, Moses won the gold medal ahead of teammateMike Shine,setting a world record of 47.63 seconds in the process.

After breaking his own world record the following year at the Drake Stadium with a time of 47.45 seconds, Moses lost toWest Germany'sHarald Schmidon August 26, 1977, inBerlin;this was his fourth defeat in the 400 m hurdles. Beginning the next week, Moses beat Schmid by 15 metres (49 ft) inDüsseldorf,and he did not lose another race for nine years, nine months, and nine days. Moses qualified for the 1980 U.S. Olympic team but was unable to compete due to the1980 Summer Olympics boycott.He did however receive one of 461Congressional Gold Medalscreated for the athletes.At the 1984 Olympics held inLos Angeles,Moses was selected to recite theOlympic Oath,but forgot the text during his presentation.He went on to win his second Olympic gold medal.

By the time AmericanDanny Harrisbeat Moses inMadridon June 4, 1987, Moses had won 122 consecutive races, set the world record twice more, won three World Cup titles, a World Championship gold, as well as his two Olympic gold medals. After the loss to Harris, he went on to win 10 more races in a row, collecting his second world gold in Rome in August of the same year.

Moses finished third in the final 400m hurdles race of his career at the1988 Summer OlympicsinSeoul.

Eligibility reforms

In 1979 Moses took a leave of absence from his job withGeneral Dynamicsto devote himself to running full-time. In the next two years, he was instrumental in reforming international and Olympic eligibility rules. At his urging, anAthletes Trust Fundprogram was established to allow athletes to benefit from government- or privately supplied stipends, direct payments, and commercial endorsement money without jeopardizing their Olympic eligibility. Moses presented the plan toJuan Antonio Samaranch,President of theInternational Olympic Committee,and the concept was ratified in 1981. This fund is the basis of many Olympic athlete subsistence, stipend and corporate support programs, including theUnited States Olympic Committee's Direct Athlete Assistance Programs.

Awards

Despite the U.S.-led boycott that kept him from competing at the summer games in Moscow, Moses was the 1980Track & Field News Athlete of the Year.A year later, he became the first recipient ofUSA Track & Field'sJesse Owens Awardas outstanding U.S. track and field performer for 1981. He received theAAU'sJames E. Sullivan Awardas outstanding amateur athlete in the United States in 1983. He was being named asABC'sWide World of SportsAthlete of the Year in 1984. Moses also shared theSports IllustratedSportsman of the Yearwith AmericangymnastMary Lou Rettonin 1984, the same year he took theAthlete's Oathfor the1984 Summer Olympics.

In 1984 his hometown of Dayton renamed Miami Boulevard West and Sunrise Avenue "Edwin C. Moses Boulevard". In 1999, Moses ranked #47 onESPN's SportCentury 50 Greatest Athletes.

Drug testing

As a sports administrator, Moses participated in the development of a number of anti-drug policies and helped the track and field community develop one of sports' most stringent random in-competition drug testing systems. In December 1988 he designed and created amateur sports' first random out-of-competition drug testing program. A physicist, Moses has been a leader in creating a structure and protocols that have significantly reduced the use of illegal, performance-enhancing pharmaceuticals in athletics for many decades.

Other achievements

After his retirement from track, Moses competed in a 1990World Cupbobsledrace atWinterberg,Germany.He and long-time US OlympianBrian Shimerwon the two-manbronze medal.

In 1994 Moses received anMBAfromPepperdine Universityand was inducted into theNational Track and Field Hall of Fame.

Moses (fourth from left) stood next toDaley Thompsonat the 2006 Laureus Day held at the Ham Polo Club, London

Since election in 2000, Moses has been chairman of theLaureus World Sports Academy,which seeks "to promote and increase participation in sport at every level, and also to promote the use of sport as a tool for social change around the world".Several dozen Olympic and world champion athletes, through theLaureus Sports for Good Foundation,work to assist disadvantaged youths around the world.

In 2008, Moses presented theDayton Literary Peace Prize's Lifetime Achievement Award toMartin Luther King Jr.,biographerTaylor Branch.

In May 2009, theUniversity of Massachusetts Bostonawarded Moses an honorary doctorate for his efforts to maintain the integrity of Olympic sports and for his use of sports as a tool for positive social change.

Personal life

Edwin Moses in 2024 on the red carpet of the 2024Laureus World Sports Awards.

Moses's father was aTuskegee Airman.

Moses is a vegetarian, humanitarian and advocate for peace.

From 1986 through 1988, still in the prime of his running career, he suffered from an undiagnosed ruptured disc, discovered by MRI years later.

Moses has one son, Julian, a volleyball player, born on August 29, 1995, in southernCalifornia.

He married Myrella Bordt in 1982; they divorced in 1992.He married Michelle Moses in February 2007; she filed for divorce in 2016.

In 2017, Moses suffered two traumatic brain injuries within months, but recovered to be able to walk again.

Film

• "Moses – 13 Steps" Documentary film, 2024

Further reading

• "Edwin Moses: An Era Unto Himself" (1999). InESPN SportsCentury.Michael MacCambridge, Editor. New York: Hyperion-ESPN Books. pp. 254–5.
• Marty Gitlin:The 100 Greatest American Athletes.Roman & Littlefield, 2018, ISBN 9781538110270, pp. 329-329

External links

• Edwin MosesatWorld Athletics
• Edwin Mosesat theUSATFHall of Fame(archived)
• Edwin Mosesat theTeam USA Hall of Fame
• Edwin MosesatOlympics
• Edwin MosesatOlympedia
• IOC 1984 Summer Olympicsat theWayback Machine(archived August 30, 2008)
• Schwartz, Larry.Moses made winning look easy.ESPN.
• Edwin Moses Biography.Major Taylor Association, Inc.
• Georgia Sports Hall of Fame