Steve Williams (born November 13, 1953)http://www.sporting-heroes.net/athletics-heroes/displayhero.asp?HeroID=10679 www.sporting-heroes.net is a retired track and field sprinter from the United States. He equalled the men's world records for the 100 m and 200 m with hand-timed runs of 9.9 seconds and 19.8 seconds, respectively, and was also a member of a team that set a world record in the 4 × 100 m relay.
He never competed at the Olympics, but had success at the IAAF World Cup: he won the 100 m and set a world record in the 4×100-meter relay with the US team at the inaugural championship in 1977. He won the 100 yd and 220 yd American titles at the 1973 AAU Championships and retained his short sprint title with a 100 m victory in 1974. A History Of The Results Of The National Track & Field Championships Of The USA From 1876 Through 2003, Track and Field News, Retrieved 3 February 2012.
Career He won the 100 meters at the 1977 IAAF Athletics World Cup in Düsseldorf whilst representing the US. He also anchored the 4x100 meters USA relay team to a new world record time of 38.03 seconds, alongside Bill Collins, Steve Riddick and Cliff Wiley – an event statistician Mark Butler for the IAAF puts in his top 10 men's World Cup moments.http://www.iaaf.org/wcp10/news/newsid=56584.html Butler's World Cup Top-10 Men's Moments - IAAF/VTB Bank Continental Cup Williams also received a bronze medal as a member of the 4x100 meters USA relay team at the 1981 IAAF World Cup in Rome.
At the peak of his career he was claimant to the title the world's fastest man.Guinness Book Of Records 22nd Edition, October 1975, Guinness Superlatives Ltd and Norris & Ross McWhirter, p 327. He recorded four 9.9 seconds hand-timings for the 100 meters, so equalling the then world record. He also jointly held the world record for 220 yards (with Don Quarrie) at 19.9 seconds (achieved in 1975). World Record ProgressionFrom 1 January 1977, imperial distances were no longer recognised for world-record purposes by the IAAF.
Recognized as one of the favorites,sportsillustrated.cnn.com Sports Illustrated, May 3, 1976sportsillustrated.cnn.com Sports Illustrated, May 31, 1976 his chance of winning the 1976 Olympic 100 meters title was ruined by injury at the quarter-final stage of the USA Olympics trials (the injury suffered was a repeat of the muscle pull he had suffered at the AAU meet earlier in the season). Williams's injury emerged in the qualifying heat in the morning, he grabbed at his thigh 15 meters from the finish line. In the afternoon quarter-final, he could only run 20 meters before pulling-up. The crowd gave him a warm ovation as he sadly left the stadium. The injury also forced him to withdraw from the 200 m trial.https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1144&dat=19760620&id=ICYcAAAAIBAJ&sjid=wlYEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6798,1262883 "Sprinter Williams Limps at Trials", Pittsburgh Press, June 20, 1976.
Williams attempted to qualify in the 100 meters again for the Olympics in 1980 (finishing 6th)A probable place in the sprint relay team was denied by the US boycott of the 1980 Olympics. and 1984 (eliminated at the quarter-final stage) but failed to make the team by finishing in the top three finishers.http://www.usatf.org/statistics/champions/OlympicTrials/HistoryOfTheOlympicTrials.pdf The History of the United States Olympic Trials - Track & Field, R Hymans, USA Track & Field, 2008
Williams emerged as a formidable talent nationally in 1972 with impressive times in the 100, 220 and 440 yards events (9.3/20.3/45.2 respectively).http://www.trackandfieldnews.com/archive/Interviews/steve%20williams.pdf Archived Track and Field News Interview from December 1974 by Jon Hendershott, Retrieved 3 February 2012. However, an injury suffered at the quarter-final stage of the 200 m event at the Olympic Trials cost him a chance of going to the 1972 Munich Olympics. He first came to the world's attention in 1973, first by tying the world record for 100 yards (at 9.1 seconds),http://astheysawit.com/11510-1973-track-and-field.html As they saw it, 1973: Track and Field second by winning both the 100 and 220 yards events at the AAU meet (the first person to do this since Ray Norton in 1960), and thirdly by defeating the great Soviet sprinter Valeriy Borzov on the final leg of the sprint relay at the US versus USSR meet in Minsk.sportsillustrated.cnn.com Sports Illustrated, August 6, 1973 He also set the world's best electronically timed performance in the men's 200 meters that year on June 16 at a meet in Bakersfield, clocking 20.33 s. Williams impressive form continued into 1974 where he equalled the 100 m world record, defended his short sprint title at the AAU Championships, and came second at the NCAA Championships 200 meters event.;http://www.trackandfieldnews.com/images/stories/tfn_pdfs/ncaa_history_pdfs/ncaam200.pdf 200 Metres, A History of the NCAA Championships, Track and Field News. and 1975 where he equalled the 200 m world record. While on tour in 1974, he won the French national championship and won the British AAA Championships title at the 1974 AAA Championships.
In 1976, after completing his studies at San Diego State University, majoring in English and journalism,sportsillustrated.cnn.com "The Short And The Long Of It", Ron Reid, Sports Illustrated, June 25, 1973. he moved to Florida. Here he worked with his coach, Brooks Johnson, at the Florida Track Club, to help achieve his Olympic dream and a "9.8 and 19.6 kind of human excellence". Sports Illustrated, August 16, 1976 Williams himself has commented on what Brooks was able to show him about his then running style, "I was shocked....I never realized how bad I was. I had been winning by accident." "Steve Said So Sorry But I Gotta Run ", Sports Illustrated, May 31, 1976. His style was once described as a "quaint, bobbing-and-weaving, shoulder-rolling style that seems to have been choreographed by Bo Diddley" and that in any race he won he "accomplished the feat with soul, style, lousy starts and great finishes" His equalling again of the then world record for 100 meters early in the 1976 season showed that he was on course to achieve his Olympic dream but sadly it would remain unfulfilled. Both Hasely Crawford, the gold medallist, and Don Quarrie, the silver medallist, in the 1976 Montreal Olympics 100 m event have expressed the belief that with Williams there a faster time, possibly a new world record, would have happened.Duncanson N, The Fastest Men on Earth, p. 187
His disappointment at being denied Olympic glory was only somewhat assuaged by success at the 1977 IAAF Athletics World Cup - 'This is as close as I can get', he is reported as saying.http://astheysawit.com/12763-1977-track-and-field.html As they saw it, 1977: Track and Field His narrow victory in the 100 m over Eugen Ray (representing East Germany) was followed by a world record as the anchor for the US team in the sprint relay. Williams has reported that he was troubled with a painful bone spur in one foot leading up to the competition. This meant he had to limit his races, and caused him to lean prematurely with pain at the finish of the 100 m.Recorded Interview with Jimson Lee, speedendurance.com, 7 March 2012 Williams has also admitted his decision to swap the baton between his hands after the final exchange of the relay may have cost the team the distinction of being the first to run under 38 s,sportsillustrated.cnn.com - View the issue - Sports Illustrated, September 12, 1977, p. 22 but he also counters that it was a movement that was natural to him, and is a tactic shared by other great sprinters, including Carl Lewis. Usain Bolt is another anchor runner who always swapped hands. Williams also offers the opinion that being a one-off race meant the team did not get to practise under the competitive conditions of running in a heat and semi-final first. This would have allowed the team to further finesse the exchanges that would have allowed the two fastest runners, himself and Steve Riddick, the maximum possible length of the track to run in.Bill Collins has confirmed in an interview that there was no relay camp in 1977 and that race was the first time they'd run with Steve Williams on the final leg.
Rankings
Williams was ranked among the best in the US and the world in both the 100 and 200 m sprint events from 1972 to 1980, according to the votes of the experts of Track and Field News.
Williams also showed early promise as 440y/400m runner and in 1972 was ranked seventh by Track and Field News in the United States for the 400 meters.1972 Year Rankings at 400m
+100 metersYearWorld rankUS rank1973 1st 1st1974 2nd 1st1975 1st 1st1976 5th 2nd1977 3rd 2nd1978 5th 2nd1979 - 10th1980 - 8th
+ 200 metersYearWorld rankUS rank1972 - 6th1973 1st 1st1974 6th 2nd1975 2nd 1st1976 3rd 2nd1977 5th 2nd1978 6th 2nd1979 - -1980 4th 1st
Seasons bests
Notes for tables: world rankings are based on the best time for each athlete. 220 yard times are converted to 200 meters times by subtracting 0.1 s for manual-timed results and 0.12 s for automatic-timed results.http://speedendurance.com/2007/07/20/440-yard-and-400-meter-racing-facts-and-figures/ 440 Yard and 400 Meter Racing – Facts and Figures for comparison with automatically timed races, manual times have a factor of 0.24 s added.
+100 metersYearResultWorld RankLocationDate19731973 Year Rankings at 100mE L Quercetani & G Pallicca, A World History of Sprint Racing 1850-2005, p 303. 10.15 1st Dakar Apr 1519741974 Year Rankings at 100mE L Quercetani & G Pallicca, A World History of Sprint Racing 1850-2005, p 305. 9.9 1st Westwood Jun 2119751975 Year Rankings at 100mE L Quercetani & G Pallicca, A World History of Sprint Racing 1850-2005, p 306. 10.08 2nd Zurich Aug 2019761976 Year Rankings at 100mE L Quercetani & G Pallicca, A World History of Sprint Racing 1850-2005, p 308. 9.9 4th Gainesville Mar 2719771977 Year Rankings at 100m 10.13 5th= Düsseldorf Sep 219781978 Year Rankings at 100mE L Quercetani & G Pallicca, A World History of Sprint Racing 1850-2005, p 310. 10.07 1st= Zurich Aug 16
+ 200 metersYearResultWorld RankLocationDate1972 20.2 3rd El Paso Apr 1519731973 Year Rankings at 200mE L Quercetani & G Pallicca, A World History of Sprint Racing 1850-2005, p 304. 20.33 1st Bakersfield Jun 1619741974 Year Rankings at 200m 20.2 4th Viareggio Aug 719751975 Year Rankings at 200m 19.8 1st Eugene Jun 719761976 Year Rankings at 200m 19.9 2nd Gainesville Apr 1719771977 Year Rankings at 200m 20.31 5th Kingston May 1319781978 Year Rankings at 200m 20.26 6th Zurich Aug 1619801980 Year Rankings at 200mE L Quercetani & G Pallicca, A World History of Sprint Racing 1850-2005, p 312. 20.26 5th Brussels Aug 22
National championships At the peak of his career, Williams was a formidable performer at the US national championships. For instance, his second place in the 100 m in 1977 (Don Quarrie of Jamaica was 1st) qualified him for the Athletics World Cup that year.
+USA ChampionshipsYear100m200m1973 1st 1st1974 1st 4th1975 2nd 4th1976 - -1977 2nd -1978 5th -
In addition, Williams was United States champion indoors at 60 y in 1976.http://www.usatf.org/statistics/USA-Champions/USAIndoorTF/men/60m.aspx USA Indoor Track & Field Champions, Men's 60 m, USA Track and Field.
Personal life