Diane Dixon

Diane Lynn Dixon (born September 23, 1964 in Brooklyn ) is a former American athlete . Dixon, who is 1.65 m tall and weighed 57 kg during her competition time, won medals at the Olympic Games and World Championships in the 400-meter run and with the 4-by-400-meter relay .

Career

In 1981 she won her first indoor title over 400 meters at the US championships. Ten more titles were to follow from 1983 to 1992. At the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles , Dixon was used in the relay prelim, which the US team won for sure. In the final, Valerie Brisco-Hooks ran on her position, the US relay won gold; Diane Dixon was also honored with a gold medal for her work in the preliminary run. The 1985 indoor world games in Paris-Bercy were the first global indoor championships. Diane Dixon was the undisputed winner of the 400-meter course in 53.35 s and won the only gold medal for the USA at the World Indoor Games. In 1986 Dixon won the IAAF Indoor Grand Prix .

At the World Championships in Rome in 1987 , Dixon was seventh over 400 meters in 51.13 s. The American squadron with the cast Dixon, Denean Howard , Valerie Brisco and Lillie Leatherwood won the bronze medal behind the squadrons from the GDR and the USSR. At the 1988 Olympics in Seoul , Dixon was fifth in 50.78 s. The season finale was the fastest relay race of all time, the USSR won in the 2007 world record of 3: 15.17 minutes. The US season with Denean Howard, Diane Dixon, Valerie Brisco and Florence Griffith-Joyner ran the second fastest time of all time with 3: 15.51 min.

In the final of the 1989 World Indoor Championships in Budapest , Dixon surprisingly lost in 51.77 s against the German Helga Arendt . Two years later, at the World Indoor Championships in Seville in 1991 , Dixon won with an American indoor record of 50.64 minutes ahead of Sandra Myers , who started for Spain . Six years after her victory at the World Indoor Games, Dixon was also the first American woman to win an official indoor world title. The four-by-400-meter relay was held for the first time in the World Indoor Championships in Seville. It won the German relay before the Soviet Union, the Americans only received the bronze medal, although Dixon as the final runner ran the fastest time of all runners in 50.2 seconds. After 1986, Dixon won the Indoor Grand Prix for the second time. Outdoors at the 1991 World Championships in Tokyo , Dixon finished eighth in 51.73 s. The relay race was won by the runners from the USSR, the US relay won silver with Rochelle Stevens , Diane Dixon, Jearl Miles and Lillie Leatherwood.

Best times

• 100 meters: 11.27 s (1986)
• 200 meters: 22.53 s (1986)
• 400 meters: 49.84 s (1988)

literature

• Peter Matthews (ed): Athletics 1992 . Windsor 1992 ISBN 1-873057-11-3