Valerie BRISCO-HOOKS

Valerie Brisco-Hooks is a classic example of an athlete whose career peaked at just the right moment, at an Olympic Games in front of a home crowd. In her case, it was the Los Angeles Olympic Games in 1984. Brisco-Hooks was a relative unknown at the start of 1984. Her best time prior to then for the 200m was 23.10sec, which she recorded at Zurich on 24 August 1983. Her fastest time of 52.08sec for 400m had been set in 1979, and her best in 1983 had been only 53.61sec. Although she had been competing for some years, she didn't get into serious training until she came under the tutelage of renowned trainer Bobby Kersee in early 1983.

In 1984, she improved her 400m time to 49.83sec in winning the US national championships, and qualified for the Olympic Games by coming second at the US trials to Chandra Cheeseborough. At Los Angeles, Brisco-Hooks won the first semi-final in 51.14sec, while the other semi-final was won by Cheeseborough. In the final, Brisco-Hooks was second at the 200m mark, but ran an exceptionally strong curve and entered the straight with a two metre lead over Cheeseborough. Although Cheeseborough chased hard down the straight, Brisco-Hooks held her lead, and hit the tape first in an amazing 48.83sec (see photo above), moving her to fourth on the all-time world list. Her improvement was no less spectacular during 1984 in the 200m.

Firstly, she won the US Olympic Trials, and then at the Olympic Games on August 9, she powered away from compatriot Florence Griffith in the 200m final to win in a US national record of 21.81sec. Her amazing Olympic campaign was completed the next day when she won her third gold medal as a member of the victorious US 4x400m relay team. (Ron Casey)

After her phenomenal triple gold medal winning performance at the 1984 Olympic Games, it was not surprising that Valerie Brisco-Hooks had difficulty maintaining that form the following year. Nevertheless, she turned in some impressive performances in 1985. Her greatest achievement was at the Weltklasse meeting at Zurich on 21 August where she beat the top East German sprinter Marlies Gohr over 100m in a personal best time of 11.01sec, and on the same day, she defeated world record holder Marita Koch (East Germany) over 200m in 21.98sec. Her fastest time over 400m was 49.56sec recorded at West Berlin on 23 August.

In 1986, she again performed better at the shorter distances, improving her 100m personal best to 10.99sec when winning an early season meet at Westwood in May. Her best time over 200m was 22.24sec, but her best performance was at the Grand Prix final in Rome on 10 September where she won the 200m in 22.30sec and came second to world record holder Marita Koch in the 400m in 50.21sec. At the 1987 World Championships in Rome, she did not compete in either the individual 200m or 400m events, but she was a member of the USA 4 x 400m relay team which won the bronze medal.

In 1988 Brisco-Hooks concentrated on the 400m in a bid to defend her Olympic title at the Seoul Olympic Games. She ran her best time (49.90sec) of the year in finishing second in her semi-final at Seoul, but in the final, finished a disappointing fourth in 50.16sec. In the 4 x 400m relay final, held on 1 October, Brisco-Hooks finished her career in grand style, running the third leg (see photo above) for the USA team which broke the existing world record, but unfortunately finished second to the team from the Soviet Union. (Ron Casey)