Silvio Leonard

Silvio Leonard

Personal information
Born	September 20, 1955 Cienfuegos, Cienfuegos, Cuba
Height	1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Weight	64 kg (141 lb)
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)	100 m: 09.98 s 200 m: 20.06 s
Medal record Men's Athletics Representing  Cuba Olympic Games 1980 Moscow 100 metres Pan American Games 1975 Mexico City 100 metres 1979 San Juan 100 metres 1979 San Juan 200 metres 1983 Caracas 4 x 100 metres Central American and Caribbean Games 1974 Santo Domingo 100 metres 1974 Santo Domingo 200 metres 1978 Medellín 100 metres 1978 Medellín 200 metres Summer Universiade 1977 Sofia 100 metres 1973 Moscow 100 metres 1977 Sofia 200 metres IAAF World Cup 1979 Montreal 200 metres 1979 Montreal 4 x 100 metres 1979 Montreal 100 metres 1977 Düsseldorf 100 metres 1977 Düsseldorf 200 metres 1977 Düsseldorf 4 x 100 metres Central American and Caribbean Championships 1977 Ponce 200 metres 1973 Maracaibo 200 metres 1977 Ponce 100 metres 1981 Santo Domingo 100 metres Friendship Games 1984 Moscow 4 x 100 metres

100 m: 09.98 s

Silvio Leonard Sarría also known as Silvio Leonard Tartabull (born September 20, 1955 in Cienfuegos) is a former sprinter from Cuba.

Leonard first announced his talent when he set a new Cuban 100 m national junior record in 1973 with a time of 10.24 s. Leonard was successful in the 1974 Central American and Caribbean Games winning the 100 and 200 m double. He came to the attention of the world when he equalled the then world record for a 100 m with a hand-timing of 9.9 s on 5 June 1975 in Ostrava.

Leonard was three-time Pan American Games champion, 1975 100 and 1979 100/200. When winning the title in 1975 he suffered a calamity that could seem comical if it were not for the fact that the outcome for Leonard could have been even worse. Whilst celebrating his win, he fell into the moat around the track. The injury he suffered to his back required surgery and severely hampered his preparations for the 1976 Olympics. In the race itself, Leonard defeated the Trinidadian Hasely Crawford who was to win the Olympic 100 m title the following year.

Leonard did recover in time to compete at the 1976 Montreal Olympics but there suffered another misfortune. He cut his left leg on broken glass in the Olympic Village. The injury badly affected his running and he was eliminated in the quarter-finals.

In 1977, Leonard was at the peak of his powers. He became the second athlete to run the 100 metres in less than 10 seconds with electronic timing, running in 9.98 s on August 11 in Guadalajara (the first was 1968 Olympic champion Jim Hines), nowadays Leonard stands as the only Spanish-speaking 10-second barrier athlete. Leonard also had good speed endurance which he proved when he was the fastest in the world that year in the 200 metres with a time of 20.08 s. At the inaugural Athletics World Cup that year, Leonard won bronze in both the 100 and 200 m whilst representing the Americas. On 13 September he set a low-altitude world best time for the 100 m at 10.03 s. He also won the 1977 100-metre Gold at the World Student Games.

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