George Young (athlete)

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George L. Young (born July 24, 1937 in Roswell , New Mexico ) is a former American track and field athlete who won the bronze medal in the 3,000-meter obstacle course at the 1968 Olympic Games .

Career

Young was a senior student at the University of Arizona when he finished second behind Phil Coleman in the 1959 AAU steeplechase championship. In 1960 he took part in the Olympic Games in Rome . In the second heat he finished fourth, the first three runners reached the final. In 1961 Young was able to place himself among the ten best runners of the year in the world for the first time with 8: 38.0 minutes. In 1962 Young won the first of his three US obstacle course titles, with the other two to follow in 1965 and 1968. At the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 1964, Young managed to reach the final in 3: 34.2 minutes as third of the second heat. In the final he finished fifth in 3: 38.2 minutes.

In 1966 Young won the AAU championship in the three-mile run. In 1968 he started at the Olympic Games in Mexico City in both the obstacle course and the marathon , after he was reigning US champion over both courses. Over the obstacles he qualified as third in his preliminary run for the finals. There he won the bronze medal in 8: 51.8 minutes behind the two Kenyans Amos Biwott and Benjamin Kogo , after racing for the medals on the home stretch against Kogo and the Australian Kerry O'Brien , while Biwott overtook the whole field on the outside. Four days after the obstacle final, Young finished 16th in the marathon. Young set indoor world records in the two-mile run and the three-mile run in 1969. At his fourth Olympic start in 1972 in Munich , Young was eliminated in the 5000 meter run.

With a height of 1.75 meters, his competition weight was 67 kilograms. Young worked as a PE teacher and college coach after his athletic career. He has been a member of the US Athletics Hall of Fame since 1981.

Best times

  • 3000 meter obstacle: 8: 30.5 minutes (1968)
  • Mile: 3: 59.6 (1972)
  • 5000 meters: 13: 29.4 minutes (1972)
  • Marathon: 2:30:48 hours (1968)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The ten fastest obstacle runners every year
personal data
SURNAME Young, George
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Young, George L.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American athlete
DATE OF BIRTH July 24, 1937
PLACE OF BIRTH Roswell (New Mexico)