Alonzo Babers

Babers finished the 1984 season in Los Angeles

Alonzo C. Babers (born October 31, 1961 in Montgomery , Alabama ) is a retired American athlete and Olympic champion .

Life

Babers was at the United States Air Force Academy from 1979 to 1983 , where he played one season of football and trained for track and field. His best time was in 1982 at 45.9 s in the 400-meter run . He increased in 1983 to a best time of 45.07 s, but at the World Championships in Helsinki he could only reach sixth place with the team in the 4 x 400 meter relay . Babers continued to improve his time and in the US qualifying runs for the Olympics he reached a new personal best of 44.95 s in the semifinals. Later, in the finals, he improved again to 44.75 s and he qualified for the Olympic team.

At the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles , he ran in the quarterfinals 44.75 seconds and won the gold medal in a time of 44.27 s, before the of Côte d'Ivoire originating Gabriel Tiacoh (silver) and the American Antonio McKay ( Bronze). He also won the team gold medal in the 4 x 400 meter relay race, together with his team mates Sunder Nix , Ray Armstead and Antonio McKay, ahead of the teams from Great Britain (silver) and from Nigeria (bronze).

While he was still training for the Olympics, Babers was promoted to second lieutenant in the United States Air Force . One month after winning the gold medal twice, he was given the opportunity to attend a flight school. He gave up the sport and began his career as a pilot and remained with the US Air Force until 1991. Today he is a member of the Reserve. Since 1992 he has been flying in civil aviation for United Airlines .

Web links

Commons : Alonzo Babers  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Alonzo Babers in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )