Mac Wilkins

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Mac Wilkins (actually: Malcolm Maurice Wilkins ; born November 15, 1950 in Eugene , Oregon ) is a former American discus thrower .

In 1973 he won the US Championship of the AAU for the first time and threw consistently over 60 meters during the season. At the end of 1973 his best performance was 64.77 m. He increased in 1974 (65.14 m) and 1975 (66.79 m).

Mac Wilkins made his breakthrough to the top of the world in 1976. On April 24th, he set the world record in Walnut with 69.18 m and exceeded the old record of John Powell by ten centimeters. A week later, on May 1st in San José , Wilkins had the best competition of his career when he broke the world record three times. The third attempt was over 69.80 m and 70.24 m on 70.86 m. Second in this competition was John Powell with 67.16 m. This made Mac Wilkins the first discus thrower to throw over 70 meters under regular conditions and beat the unofficial world records set by Jay Silvester in 1971.

Mac Wilkins won the AAU championship for the second time after 1973 and also the US trials. At the Olympic Games in Montreal he won with 67.50 m in front of Wolfgang Schmidt from the GDR with 66.22 m; John Powell won bronze for the USA with 65.70 m.

Mac Wilkins was AAU champion five times in a row from 1976 to 1980. As a world record holder, he was replaced by Wolfgang Schmidt in 1978, against whom he was also defeated at the World Athletics Cup in 1977 in Düsseldorf and 1979 in Montreal . In 1979 Wilkins won the Pan American Games in San Juan . He set his personal best on July 9, 1980 with 70.98 m in Helsinki . He also won the US Trials in 1980, but was not allowed to compete in the Moscow Games because of the Olympic boycott.

In 1977 he became German champion in discus throwing for LAC Quelle .

In 1983 he was tenth at the World Athletics Championships in Helsinki . In the following year he threw 70.44 m for the first time since 1980 again over the 70-meter mark. At the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, he won silver with 66.30 m behind Rolf Danneberg with 66.60 m and in front of his old rival John Powell. After the 1984 Games, Wilkins retired from high-performance sports.

In 1988 he made a comeback. At the Olympic Games in Seoul he was fifth again with 65.90 m.

Mac Wilkins is 1.93 m tall and weighed 115 kg at competition times.

literature

  • Manfred Holzhausen: world records and world record holders, shot put and discus throw. Grevenbroich 2000
  • Bill Mallon & Ian Buchanan: Quest for Gold. New York 1984, ISBN 0-88011-217-4
  • Ekkehard zur Megede: The Modern Olympic Century 1896-1996 Track and Field Athletics. Berlin 1999 (published by the German Society for Athletics Documentation eV )

Web links
personal data
SURNAME Wilkins, Mac
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wilkins, Malcolm Maurice
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American discus thrower
DATE OF BIRTH November 15, 1950
PLACE OF BIRTH Eugene , Oregon