Maurice Smith

Maurice Smith in Kladno 2010

Maurice Smith (born September 28, 1980 in Saint Catherine Parish ) is a Jamaican decathlete who became vice world champion in 2007.

Smith's career began in 1999 with a bronze medal at the Pan American Junior Games. In 2001 he won the decathlon title at the CACG (Central American and Caribbean Games) in Guatemala City with 7755 points . After he had exceeded the 8000 point mark for the first time with 8024 points at the Texas Relays in April 2004, he also started at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens . With 8023 points, he came up to one point on his record and took 14th place.

In 2005 he increased his indoor heptathlon performance in Fayetteville to 6035 points. Two weeks later, again in Fayetteville, he won the NCAA championship with 6004 points . In May 2005 he increased his best performance in the decathlon to 8232 points. At the 2005 World Championships in Gothenburg , he broke off the competition after two disciplines.

In March 2006 the Commonwealth Games 2006 took place in Melbourne . With 8074 points Smith won the silver medal 69 points behind the Englishman Dean Macey . At the end of May 2006, Smith climbed to 8269 points at the Mösle all- around meeting in Götzis as third in the competition, and a month later he improved his best performance in Ratingen to 8349 points.

In 2007 Smith finished eighth in Götzis with 8241 points. In July he won the Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro with 8278 points . Smith showed his best competition to date at the 2007 World Championships in Osaka . After three best performances in individual disciplines, Smith rose to 8544 points and won silver behind the Czech Roman Šebrle .

At the Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008 he finished 8th with 8205 points.

Maurice Smith is 1.90 m tall and weighs around 90 kg in competition. He has a degree in adult education from Auburn University . He has won several championship titles in Jamaica in throwing disciplines: in 2000 he won the javelin throw, 2001 in the shot put, 2001 and 2005 in the discus throw.

Best performance in the individual disciplines

100 m	10.62 s	(2007 in Osaka)
Long jump	7.51 m	(2006 in Ratingen)
Shot put	17.41 m	(2007 in Auburn)
high jump	2.03 m	(2001 in Guatemala City)
400 m	47.48 s	(2007 in Osaka)
110 m hurdles	13.76 s	(2006 in Götzis)
Discus throw	55.49 m	(2007 in Kingston)
Pole vault	4.80 m	(2007 in Osaka)
Javelin throw	62.07 m	(2002 in Spanish Town)
1500 m	4: 29.95 min	(2006 in Melbourne)

Smith set his best performance of 8644 points in 2007 in Osaka.

literature

• Hans van Kuijen: 2007 Annual Combined Events. Helmond 2007.
• Peter Matthews (Ed.): Athletics 2007. SportsBooks, Cheltenham 2007 ISBN 978-1-899807-49-9 .

Web links

• Maurice Smith in the database of World Athletics (English)