Leroy Burrell

Leroy Burrell

Personal information
Nationality	American
Born	(1967-02-21) February 21, 1967 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 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 team	University of Houston
Medal record Men’s athletics Representing the United States Olympic Games 1992 Barcelona 4×100 m relay World Championships 1991 Tokyo 4x100 m relay 1993 Stuttgart 4×100 m relay 1991 Tokyo 100 m

Leroy Russel Burrell (born February 21, 1967) is a former American athlete who twice set the world record for the 100 meters sprint, setting a time of 9.90 seconds in June 1991. This was broken by Carl Lewis in September at the World Track and Field Championships. In that race, Burrell came in second, yet he beat his own record. Burrell set the record for a second time when he ran 9.85 s in 1994, a record that stood until the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, when Donovan Bailey ran 9.84 s.

Burrell grew up in Lansdowne, Pennsylvania and attended Penn Wood High School where he single-handedly won the state championship by winning the 100 m, 200 m, long jump, and triple jump. Suffering from poor eyesight accentuated by a childhood eye injury, he was poor at other sports but excelled on the track from an early age.

College career

He studied at the University of Houston, where he was a successful participant in its track program. In 1985–86, he broke Houston's freshman long jump record that was held by Carl Lewis, when he leaped 26 feet 9 inches at a dual meet against UCLA in 1986. Later that season, he faced one of the most challenging moments of his track career.

After jumping 26' 7.25" in the preliminaries of the 1986 Southwest Conference Outdoor Championships, Burrell jumped almost 27 feet before landing awkwardly on his third jump. He tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. He finished second at the meet, but many people feared the injury could be career-ending.

In 1988, he returned to the SWC Championships, where he finished second in the 100 meters and third in the long jump. At the NCAA Championships, Burrell earned All-America honors with a fifth-place finish in the 100 meters and a seventh-place showing in the long jump.

The next year, he won the NCAA Indoor Long Jump Championship with a leap of 26' 5.50". At the NCAA outdoor meet, he set the NCAA outdoor meet record with a personal best jump of 27' 5.50". But, Ohio State's Joe Greene recorded a wind-aided mark of 27' 7.25" to win the event, and left Burrell with a record-setting second-place finish.

Professional career

Burrell was plagued by injuries and bad luck throughout his career, particularly around major championships. He won gold in the 100 m ahead of Carl Lewis at 1990 Goodwill Games in Seattle. He won the silver in the 100 m behind Lewis at the 1991 World Championships, and at the 1992 Summer Olympics was false-started in the 100 m final and, when the race finally restarted, his reaction off the line was slow and he finished fifth. He did though manage to win a relay gold as part of the US team at Barcelona.

Since his retirement in 1998, Burrell has replaced his old college mentor, Tom Tellez, as coach of the University of Houston's track team. Burrell has led UH to 14 men’s Conference USA titles (nine indoor, five outdoor) and nine women’s titles (four indoor, five outdoor).

Personal life

He married Michelle Finn, also a sprinter, in 1994, and they have three sons: Cameron—who is currently one of the fastest sprinters in his age group worldwide—, Joshua and Jaden. His younger sister Dawn also competed in track and field on the highest level.

Statistics

As of 9 September 2008

Personal bests

Date	Event	Venue	Best performance
February 13, 1991	60 meters	Madrid, Spain	6.48 s
July 6, 1994	100 meters	Lausanne, Switzerland	9.85 s
June 27, 1992	200 meters	New Orleans, Louisiana, United States	20.12 s
June 2, 1989	Long jump	Provo, Utah, United States	8.37 m

• All information from IAAF profile

External links

• Leroy Burrell at World Athletics
• University of Houston page on Burrell