Darvis Patton

Darvis Patton

Patton (second left) after his 2007 World 4×100 m relay gold
Personal information
Nationality	American
Born	December 4, 1977 (1977-12-04) Dallas, Texas, U.S.
Residence	Grand Prairie, Texas, U.S.
Height	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Weight	180 lb (82 kg)
Sport
Sport	Running
Event(s)	100 metres, 200 metres
College/university team	Texas Christian University
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)	100m: 9.89 200m: 20.03
Medal record Men’s athletics Competitor for the United States Olympic Games Silver 2004 Athens 4×100 m relay World Championships Gold 2007 Osaka 4×100 m relay Silver 2003 Paris 200 m Gold 2003 Paris 4×100 m relay Pan American Games Silver 2007 Rio de Janeiro 100 m Bronze 2007 Rio de Janeiro 4×100 m relay

Darvis "Doc" Darell Patton (born December 4, 1977) is an American sprint athlete. He was the US Champion and World silver medallist over 200 meters in 2003. He has had much success with the American 4×100-meter relay team, becoming the 2003 and 2007 World Champion and winning a silver medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics.

He initially focused on the 200 m but, after missing 2005 and 2006 due to injury, he switched to the 100 meter dash. He won the 100 m silver medal at the 2007 Pan American Games and reached the finals of the event at the 2008 Summer Olympics and the 2009 World Championships. He has broken the 10-second barrier and his personal record of 9.89 seconds places him within the top-ten fastest Americans in the event.

Early career

A very versatile athlete, Patton competed at both the long jump and triple jump in his high school and college days but now concentrates his time around the 200 meters and 100 meters events. He had his first successes as a senior in 2002 when he was runner up in the 200 m at both the Indoor and Outdoor US Championships. The following season saw him reach the global podium for the first time: he became the US Champion in the 200 m and went on to win the silver medal in the event at the 2003 World Championships in Athletics. He also won a gold medal as part of the American men's 4×100-meter relay team. He also began to improve in the 100 m that year, winning at the ISTAF Golden League meet and improving his personal record to 10.00 seconds at the Weltklasse Zürich meeting.

After a fourth place finish in the 200 m at the 2004 US Olympic Trials, he was nominated as the substitute for the 4×100 m relay at the 2004 Summer Olympics. Patton helped the American team ease through the heats, recording a time of 38.02 seconds. He was substituted for the newly crowned 100 m Olympic champion Justin Gatlin for the final race, but the move backfired for the team as they finished a little slower (38.08) and had to settle for the silver medal behind Great Britain – who they had easily beaten in the heats. Patton's 2005 and 2006 seasons were wrecked by significant groin and hip injuries and he only returned to major competitions in 2007.

World and Olympic competition

Patton returned to action and finished eighth in the 100 m final at the 2007 US Championships, although he withdrew from the 200 m competition. Based on his performance, he was selected to represent the United States at the 2007 Pan American Games. He finished second in the 100 m behind Churandy Martina and anchored the relay team to a bronze medal. He was chosen as part of the relay team for the 2007 World Championships and this time made the final after qualifying. The American team became the world champions in a world-leading time of 37.78 seconds, fending off the Jamaican challengers who set a national record.

On 28 June 2008, Patton achieved his best performance running 9.89 s (wind +1.6 m/s) in 100 metres, winning the third race of the quarter finals of U.S. Olympic Trials. On the following day in the final, he ran 9.84 and finished third after Tyson Gay (9.68 s) and Walter Dix (9.80 s) in a very wind-aided (+3.1 m/s) race.

During the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing he placed second in his heat behind Tyrone Edgar in a time of 10.25 seconds. In the second round he improved his time to 10.04 seconds, finishing second in his heat behind Usain Bolt and qualifying for the semi finals. With 10.03 and the fourth time in his semi final heat he qualified for the Olympic final, being the slowest of all eight athletes. In the final itself he ran another 10.03 and was again the slowest and thus the eighth placed athlete. Together with Rodney Martin, Travis Padgett and Tyson Gay he also competed at the 4x100 metres relay. In their qualification heat they did not finish due to a mistake in the baton exchange between Patton and Gay and they were eliminated.

Patton came second to Michael Rodgers in a close 100 m race at the US championships in June 2009. This won him a place on the American team for the 2009 World Championships in Athletics. He managed to reach the final of the men's 100 meters after scoring a season's best of 9.98 in the semi-finals. He performed poorly in the final however, finishing last with a slow time of 10.34 seconds. The hopes of the American men's relay team were again dashed by an illegal baton exchange, this time between Patton and Shawn Crawford. Patton ended his season on a high note with a personal record-equalling run of 9.89 seconds for third at the Shanghai Golden Grand Prix, behind Tyson Gay and Asafa Powell.

Personal bests

Event	Time (sec)	Venue	Date
60 meters	6.58	Houston, Texas, United States	January 25, 2003
100 meters	9.89	Eugene, Oregon, United States	June 28, 2008
200 meters	20.03	Saint-Denis, France	August 28, 2003
Long jump	8.12	Arlington, Texas, United States	March 31, 2001

• All information taken from IAAF profile.

Competition record

Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Notes
2003	World Championships	Paris, France	2nd	200 m
			1st	4×100 m relay
	World Athletics Final	Monaco	4th	200 m
2004	Summer Olympics	Athens, Greece	2nd	4×100 m relay (heats)
2007	Pan American Games	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	2nd	100 m
			3rd	4×100 m relay
	World Championships	Osaka, Japan	1st	4×100 m relay
2008	Summer Olympics	Beijing, China	8th	100 m
			DQ	4×100 m relay
2009	World Championships	Berlin, Germany	8th	100 m
			DQ (heats)	4×100 m relay

External links

• Official website
• IAAF profile for Darvis Patton
• USATF profile for Darvis Patton