Hasely Crawford
| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Men's athletics | ||
Representing  Trinidad and Tobago
|
||
| Olympic Games | ||
 |
1976 Montreal | 100m |
| Pan American Games | ||
 |
1975 Mexico City | 100m |
| Commonwealth Games | ||
|
1978 Edmonton | 4x100m |
 |
1970 Edinburgh | 100m |
|
1978 Edmonton | 100m |
Hasely Joachim Crawford TC (born 16 August 1950) is a former track and field athlete from Trinidad and Tobago. In 1976, he became his country's first Olympic champion and the first Olympic 100m champion from a Caribbean country. A stadium was renamed in his honor in 2001.
Crawford was born in San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago, one of the eleven children of Lionel Crawford and Phyllis Holder, and began pursuing athletics at the age of 17. He is a six-time Trinidad and Tobago 100 metres champion, and won the 200 metre title in 1976. He debuted internationally in 1970, winning a bronze medal in the 100 metres at the Commonwealth Games. Only two years later, he surprisingly qualified for the 100 metres final of the Olympics in Munich, but pulled his hamstring after 20 metres and failed to finish.
Crawford ran for Eastern Michigan University under coach Bob Parks during his college years.
After finishing as the runner up at the 1975 Pan American Games in the 100 metres, Crawford was added to the team of American coach Bob Parks. His new coach prepared him for the 100 metres and 200 metres events at the 1976 Summer Olympics with a strategy of only allowing him to run in a few races during the season. This tactic paid off, as Crawford, in the outside lane 1, narrowly won the 100 metres final in a time of 10.06 seconds, just 0.02 seconds in front of Don Quarrie of Jamaica, winning Trinidad and Tobago's first Olympic gold medal. He had also qualified for the 200 metres final, but was forced to pull out mid-race after injuring his groin.
...
Wikipedia