Kevin Young (athlete)
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Young in 2012
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| Personal information | |
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| Born |
September 16, 1966 Los Angeles, California |
| Height | 6 ft 4 in (193 cm) |
| Weight | 181 lb (82 kg) |
| Sport | |
| Country | United States |
| Sport | Athletics |
| Event(s) | 400 metres hurdles |
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Medal record
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| Updated on 9 February 2014. | |
Kevin C. Young (born in September 16, 1966) is a former American athlete. He was the winner of the 400 metres hurdles at the 1992 Summer Olympics. In the final of this event he set a world record and Olympic record of 46.78 seconds, which remains unbeaten, and the only time 47 seconds has been broken.
He became the 400 m hurdles world champion the following year, winning at the 1993 World Championships in Athletics with a time of 47.18 seconds. He had an unusual hurdling technique of switching between 12 and 13 strides between the hurdles, departing from the 13-stride technique popularized by Edwin Moses.
Young's performances declined after 1993. He was inducted into the National Track & Field Hall of Fame in 2006.
At Jordan High School, the same high school that Florence Griffith-Joyner had attended years earlier, Young was first successful as a 110-meter hurdler, finishing in third place at the 1984 CIF California State Meet. As a UCLA "walk-on", Young was 5th place at the 1985 Pac-10 championships running the 400-meter hurdles in 51.09 seconds. This all changed his sophomore year. Limiting the amount of time and effort in other events (110 hurdles, triple jump, and long jump) he applied more detail towards the 400-meter hurdles and 4×400-meter relay. The Bruin won the 1986 Pac-10 400 m hurdles title on the advice of Andre Phillips sharing his knowledge of running this distance at the Los Angeles Coliseum under windy conditions. There he set a then Pac-10 record of 49.02 seconds. While in Indiana for that year's 1986 NCAA Championships, Young was a surprised second-place finisher behind the 1984 Olympic silver medalists, Danny Harris of Iowa State. While running between the fourth and fifth hurdles, he took eleven (11) strides between the barriers, a feat only repeated by him six years later during the first round of 1992 Barcelona Olympic 400-meter hurdles. At the 1987 NCAA championships at LSU, he captured a pair of NCAA titles in 400-meter hurdles and 4×400-meter relay. He and his Bruin 4×400 m relay teammates of Anthony Washington, Henry Thomas, and Danny Everett set a then NCAA and collegiate record of 3:00.55. In 1988 during his senior year at UCLA, Young defended his third PacC-10 400 m hurdles title and won his second NCAA 400 m hurdles title, running 47.85 seconds. With the addition of California prep 400 m specialist Steven Lewis, the Bruins' 4 × 400 m relay team became the first ever collegiate team to run under 3 minutes (2:59.91; relay splits: Steve Lewis 45.1, Kevin Young 44.3, Danny Everett, 45.4, Henry Thomas 45.1), 2:59.91 CR. These records stood for 17 years, with the 400 m hurdles being broken by Kerron Clement (47.56) and relay by LSU (2:59.59). Kevin Young finished his senior year as team captain and the most valuable male collegiate athlete in the United States, winning the Jumbo Elliott Award. Young graduated from UCLA setting junior and senior class records in the 400 m hurdles (48.15 and 47.72 respectively).
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