Calvin SMITH

Calvin Smith had a long and distinguished career as a sprinter during the 1980s and 1990s, achieving a number of honours, but unfortunately he spent almost his entire career in the shadow of Carl Lewis. He first came to international attention when he ran 9.91sec for 100m at Karl-Marx-Stadt on 9 July 1982. This time would have been a World Record except that the following wind was a frustratingly 0.1m/sec over the legal limit. The next year, on July 3 at Colorado Springs, he ran 9.93sec, again breaking the World Record and this time the wind reading was legal. At the inaugural World Championships later that year in Helsinki he produced some memorable performances. Although he was the World Record holder for the 100m there was no doubt that Carl Lewis was the favourite and predictably Smith finished second behind Lewis.

In the 200m, in the absence of Lewis, Smith won easily by 0.27sec in a time of 20.14 secs. (see photo above). In the 4x100m relay the US quartet with Smith and Lewis running the final two legs were expected to do well, and they didn't disappoint, winning easily in a new World Record of 37.86sec. Smith didn't gain selection for the individual events at the 1984 Olympic Games due to injury, but he did compete in the 4 x 100m relay. There were again high expectations of the US team and again they delivered, with Smith running the third leg and Lewis the anchor they won in 37.83sec, lowering their Helsinki World Record. Kirk Baptiste represented the USA in the 100m and 200m at the 1985 World Cup in Canberra, but again Smith was in the relay squad, which easily won the gold medal in 38.10sec, the fastest time of the year. (Ron Casey)

Calvin Smith came to the 1987 World Championships at Rome as the defending 200m champion. In contrast to his program at the previous World Championships, he did not also compete in the 100m and 4 x 100m relay, and therefore was able to devote all his attention to the 200m. Smith qualified comfortably in his semi-final but drew lane 8 in the final. He ran a very slow bend and as they straightened up he was well behind. He was only fifth at 150m behind John Regis (Great Britain) and Gil Queneherve (France), but he was finishing faster than anyone else. These three hit the line virtually together (see the above photo) with Smith declared the winner in 20.16sec in lane eight with Queneherve second and Regis third.

At the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul Smith only gained selection for the 100m and the 4 x 100m relay. In the 100m final he finished 4th behind Ben Johnson (Canada) and Carl Lewis. After the medal ceremony it was determined that Johnson had returned a positive drug test and was duly disqualified, elevating Lewis to first and Smith to third. There was disappointment for the USA in the 4x100m relay. In their heat, from which they should have qualified comfortably, the pass between Smith and Lee McNeill was made out of the zone, disqualifying the US team.

\Smith did not compete in the 1992 Olympic Games but was selected to represent the USA at the 1992 World Cup held after the Games in Havana. There he placed third in the 100m behind Linford Christie (Great Britain) and was a member of the victorious 4x100m relay team. After that his career slowly came to a close, and his last appearance in the world rankings was in 1996 at the age of 35 where he ranked 85th in the 100m. (Ron Casey)