Bill Toomey

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Bill Toomey (actually William Anthony Toomey ; born January 10, 1939 in Philadelphia ) is a former American track and field athlete and Olympic champion in the decathlon .

He began his career in pentathlon and was national champion four times in this discipline (1960, 1961, 1963, 1964). In 1964, he narrowly missed participation in the Tokyo Olympics in the decathlon in the US eliminations .

Also in the decathlon, he won the Universiade 1965 and the Pan American Games in Winnipeg and won five US titles in a row (1965-1969).

At the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City , he won ahead of the two Germans Hans-Joachim Walde and Kurt Bendlin . The time he achieved in the 400-meter run of 45.6 s on this occasion was the unofficial world record for decathletes until 2015. At the end of his career, he set a world record in the decathlon on December 11, 1969 in Santa Barbara with 8417 points .

After his sporting career, he became a businessman and was involved in various positions for the Olympic movement. In 1969 he married the British long jumper Mary Rand ; the marriage was divorced in 1992.

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personal data
SURNAME Toomey, Bill
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Toomey, William Anthony
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American decathlete
DATE OF BIRTH January 10, 1939
PLACE OF BIRTH Philadelphia