Butch Reynolds
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June 8, 1964 Akron, Ohio |
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| Alma mater | The Ohio State University | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Medal record
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Harry "Butch" Reynolds (born June 8, 1964) is an American former track and field athlete who competed in the 400 meter dash. He held the world record for the event for 11 years with his personal best time of 43.29 seconds set in 1988. That year he was the silver medalist at the 1988 Seoul Olympics (behind Steve Lewis) and a relay gold medalist. He was banned for drug use for two years by the IAAF, following an unsuccessful legal appeal.
On his competitive return he became the 1993 World Indoor Champion and won two successive 400 meter silver medals at the World Championships in Athletics. He also enjoyed success with the 4×400 meter relay team, winning the world title three times in his career with the United States (1987, 1993 and 1995). His team's time of 2:54.29 minutes at the 1993 World Championships in Athletics is the current world record. Reynolds remains the third fastest of all-time in the 400 m after Michael Johnson, the former world record holder, and Wayde van Niekerk, the current world record holder.
In 2016, he was elected into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame.
Reynolds was born in Akron, Ohio. On August 17, 1988, aged 24 years and 70 days, he set a 400-meter world record with 43.29 seconds, smashing Lee Evans' nearly 20-year-old 1968 world record by 0.57 seconds. Reynolds' record had negative splits, meaning that the second half of the race was completed more quickly than the first half, and was the first time anyone had set a world record for the men's 400 metres with negative splits. His splits were 21.9 seconds for the opening 200 metres and 21.4 seconds for the closing 200 metres, giving a differential of -0.5 seconds. This record stood for 11 years, 9 days and was broken by Michael Johnson (43.18) in August 1999. Wayde van Niekerk broke Michael Johnson's record in 2016 in a time of 43.03. Reynolds remains the third fastest of all-time over the distance, and Olympic champions Jeremy Wariner, Quincy Watts, LaShawn Merritt and Kirani James, plus Isaac Makwala, the African champion from 2012 and 2014, are the only others to have come within half a second of his best mark.
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