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The magnificent Olympic career of sprinter Evelyn Ashford, which spanned
16 years, would without doubt have been much greater, if it had not
been for the USA boycott of the 1980 Olympics in Moscow. Evelyn
competed in her first Olympics at Montreal in 1976, where she finished
5th in the 100m, and was a member of the 7th-placed USA 4 x 100m relay
team. At the 1977 World Cup in Dusseldorf, Evelyn finished 5th in the
100m and 4th in the 200m, but it was a far different story at the 1979
World Cup in Montreal. In the 200m at Montreal, Ashford defeated
world-record holder Marita Koch (East Germany), and on the following
day, she also won the 100m, defeating world-record holder Marlies Gohr
(East Germany).
Following her Moscow disappointment, Ashford retained
her 100m and 200m titles at the 1981 World Cup in Rome, and also
anchored the USA team to a silver medal in the 4 x 100m relay. Gohr
reduced her 100m world record to 10.81 sec in June 1983, but less than
four weeks later, on 3 July at Colorado Springs, Ashford clocked
10.79sec to set her first world record. This led to a much-awaited
clash in the 100m between the two at the 1983 World Championships in
Helsinki, but disaster struck Ashford in the final when she tore her
right hamstring and failed to finish, leaving Gohr with a comfortable
victory.
They missed the opportunity for a rematch at the 1984 Olympic
Games in Los Angeles because of Gohr's absence due to the boycott by the
eastern bloc countries. In her absence, Ashford (see photo above)
was supreme in the 100m, winning the gold medal easily in a new Olympic
record of 10.97sec. She won another gold medal in the 4 x 100m relay,
anchoring the victorious USA team which won by the greatest winning
margin (1.12sec) in Olympic history. (Ron Casey)
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