Charles Greene (athlete)

Charles Greene

Charles Greene in 1970
Personal information
Born	(1945-03-21) March 21, 1945 (age 71) Pine Bluff, Arkansas, United States
Height	1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Weight	69 kg (152 lb)
Sport
Sport	Sprint
Club	Cornhusker Track Club
Medal record Representing the  United States Olympic Games 1968 Mexico City 4x100 m relay 1968 Mexico City 100 m

Charles Edward "Charlie" Greene (born March 21, 1945) is a retired African-American track and field sprinter, winner of the gold medal in 4×100-meter relay at the 1968 Summer Olympics.

Born in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, Greene was considered a certain candidate for the 1964 Olympic team, but he suffered a muscle pull that held him to a sixth place at the Olympic Trials.

Greene won the 100-yard dash for O'Dea High, Seattle WA in 1962 & 1963 and also 220-yard dash in 1963. Greene won the AAU championships in 100-yard dash in 1966 and in 100-meter dash in 1968. At the 1968 AAU Championships, Greene tied the 100 m world record twice. First in the heats he equaled the world record of 10.0, then in the second semifinal he ran 9.9, the same time which had been run by Jim Hines and Ronnie Ray Smith in the previous race. The evening when three men equaled the world record (and several others were very close), June 20, 1968 at Hughes Stadium in Sacramento, California has been dubbed by track and field historians as the "Night of Speed." As a University of Nebraska student, Greene won the NCAA championships in 100 yd from 1965 to 1967 and tied the world record at 9.1.