Jim Spivey
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Nationality | American | ||||||||||||||||||
| Born |
March 7, 1960 Schiller Park, Illinois |
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| Height | 5 ft 10 in (178 cm) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 134 lb (61 kg) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Track | ||||||||||||||||||
| Event(s) | 1500 meters, 3000 meters, 5000 meters | ||||||||||||||||||
| College team | Indiana | ||||||||||||||||||
| Achievements and titles | |||||||||||||||||||
| Personal best(s) |
800 meters: 1:46.5 1500 meters: 3:31.01 Mile: 3:49.80 2-mile: 8:24.14 5000 meters: 13:15.86 |
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Medal record
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James ("Jim") Calvin Spivey (born March 7, 1960 in Schiller Park, Illinois) is a former American middle-distance runner and Olympian. Spivey took up competitive running in Illinois where he became one of the best high school runners from his state. He was the 1982 NCAA DI men's 1500-meter champion with Indiana University. Spivey enjoyed a long Olympic career, in which he participated in the Olympic Summer Games in 1984, 1992, and 1996.
Spivey began running competitively in 1975 as a sophomore in cross country and on the track at Fenton High School in Bensenville, Illinois. He was runner-up at state cross country his junior and senior year, running 14:00 for three miles at the Illinois State course in Peoria, Illinois. In Track and Field he was a state qualifier in the two-mile his sophomore year, was runner-up in the two-mile his junior year in 9:00.5, and state champion in the half mile his senior year. His times of 1:50.2 880 yards was the #1 ranked high school time in the country; and mile of 4:06.2 was the 2nd fastest high schooler for 1978.
Spivey attended Indiana University from 1978 to 1983. In 1982 he was the NCAA champion in the men's 1500 meters. During his college career, Spivey's training fluctuated seasonally to adjust to cross country in the fall and track in the winter and spring; his weekly mileage ranged from under 40 to over 80 miles depending on his race schedule.
In 1984, he also won the Olympic Trials and placed 5th in the Los Angeles Olympic Games. His time of 3:36.06 was the fastest run by an American in the Olympic final until the 2012 London Olympic Games in which Leo Manzano ran 3:34.90 to claim 2nd place.
His greatest success came at the World Championships in Rome 1987 over 1500 m where he won a bronze medal. He also won the Silver Medal at the 1987 Pan American Games in Indianapolis, Indiana. The following year, however, Spivey failed to qualify for the 1988 Summer Olympics (finishing fourth at the US trials in Indianapolis) in the same season in which he set his personal best over 1500 m (3:31.01, Koblenz).
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