Willie Davenport

William "Willie" Davenport (born June 8, 1943 in Troy (Alabama) , † June 17, 2002 in Chicago ) was an American athlete . With a height of 1.86 m, his competition weight was 84 kg.

Career

Willie Davenport has competed four times in the Olympic Games in the 110-meter hurdles . In 1964 he was eliminated in the semifinals with 14.28 s. In 1968 he won gold in 13.33 seconds. In 1968 this hurdle competition was one of the few on the short distances where there was no world record.

In 1972 Davenport finished fourth in 13.50 s. In 1976 Davenport finally won bronze in 13.38 s behind Frenchman Guy Drut and Cuban Alejandro Casañas . If you disregard the games in 1980, which the Americans boycotted, the best American in the 110-meter hurdles has always won gold or silver since 1896, except in 1976, when the oldie Davenport defended the honor of the US hurdler had to, while fellow favorite Charles Foster was only fourth. In fairness, however, it should be mentioned that both Drut and Casañas were world record runners. Willie Davenport "only" set Martin Lauer's ancient world record once, namely in 1969 .

At the age of 33, Willie Davenport ended his Olympic hurdling career in 1976. At the 1980 Olympic Winter Games , Davenport started as a pusher in the four-man bobsleigh and finished 12th.

Willie Davenport was an ordinary soldier in the Army when he made his Olympic debut in 1964. He died in 2002, a National Guard Colonel, when he died of a heart attack at Chicago Airport.

Others

Willie Davenport was stationed as a soldier in Mainz-Gonsenheim from 1964 to 1968. During this time, Berno Wischmann, founder of the sports institute at the University of Mainz, trained him in the 110-meter hurdles.

Web links

• Willie Davenport in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )

Individual evidence

1. ^ "SPORT - The adventure of my life" by Berno Wischmann, page 95 - Mainz: Sport und Medien Verlag, 1990 - ISBN 3-9802483-1-3