George Woods (athlete)

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George Woods ( George Roger Woods ; born February 11, 1943 in Portageville , Missouri ) is a former American shot putter who won two Olympic medals.

As a student at Southern Illinois University Carbondale , he finished second at the NCAA championships in 1964 and won in 1966 indoors. He won the US indoor championships five times (1965, 1967-1969, 1973) and once the French open championships (1974).

At the Olympic Games in Mexico City in 1968 , Woods won the silver medal with a width of 20.12 m behind his compatriot Randy Matson (20.54 m) and ahead of Eduard Guschtschin from the Soviet Union (20.09 m). He achieved the same placement four years later in an extremely close competition at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich. With his width of 21.17 m in his last attempt, he was only one centimeter short of the Polish Olympic champion Władysław Komar . At the same time, he was only three centimeters ahead of the East German bronze medalist Hartmut Briesenick . In his third and last Olympic participation in 1976 in Montreal Woods was seventh.

Woods set six indoor world records in the shot put. He achieved his career best of 22.02 m on February 8, 1974. He exceeded the then existing outdoor world record of his compatriot Al Feuerbach by 20 centimeters.

George Woods is 1.88 m and weighed 136 kg during his playing days. After his competitive sports career, he worked as a study advisor at Southern Illinois University. In 2007 he was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the US Athletics Federation USATF.

Top performances

  • Shot put: 21.63 m, May 22, 1976, Modesto
    • Hall: 22.02 m, February 8, 1974, Inglewood (former world record)

Web links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ gbrathletics French Championships
personal data
SURNAME Woods, George
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Woods, George Roger (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American shot putter
DATE OF BIRTH February 11, 1943
PLACE OF BIRTH Portageville , Missouri