Decathlon
Bruce Jenner: Jenner broke his own world record while winning the Olympic decathlon gold medal in 1976. He also competed in 1972, finishing tenth in the Munich Games. Jenner won the national AAU decathlon title in 1974 and the Pan-American games in 1975, the year in which he set his first world decathlon record.
A motivational speaker, sports announcer, entrepreneur, commercial spokesman, actor, producer and author, Jenner is best known today as the father/stepfather in the E! reality TV show, “Keeping up with the Kardashians.” His business interests include Bruce Jenner Aviation, which sells corporate aircraft. The organizations he’s served include Special Olympics, the National Dyslexia Research Foundation and The Dream Foundation.
Rafer Johnson: Johnson won the 1960 Olympic gold medal with a world record score after earning the bronze in 1956. He also won three national AAU championships. Johnson won the Sullivan Award as the nation's top amateur athlete in 1960.
Johnson is a spokesperson and board member for the Hershey's Track & Field Games. He’s a board member of the People to People Sports Ambassador Programs and is a member of the International Board of Special Olympics. Johnson published an autobiography, “The Best That I Can Be,” in 1998. He’s made several film appearances, including playing a DEA agent in the James Bond film “License to Kill.”
Heptathlon
Jackie Joyner-Kersee: In Olympic heptathlon competition, Joyner-Kersee won the silver medal in 1984, then followed with golds in 1988 and ’92. She holds the world heptathlon record with 7291 points. In the Olympic long jump, she struck gold in ’88 and added bronzes in 1992 and ’96. In World Championship competition she won the heptathlon in 1987 and ’93 and the long jump in ’87 and ’91. Other victories included the 1994 U.S. 100-meter hurdles title, 12 national long jump championships (nine outdoor, three indoor), eight U.S. heptathlon titles and the U.S. indoor 60-meter hurdles championship in 1992. In college, Joyner-Kersee won NCAA heptathlon championships in 1982-83 for UCLA.
Joyner-Kersee established the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Foundation in 1988, which provides charitable assistance in the East St. Louis, Ill., area. The Foundation’s efforts included building the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Center in East St. Louis. She also helped to found Athletes for Hope, an organization which helps professional athletes get involved in charitable causes. She’s also involved in public speaking and appearances.
Race walk
Larry Young: Through 2004, Young was the only American to earn a race walking Olympic medal after winning 50-kilometer bronze medals in 1968-72. Young won 30 national titles in various race walking events. He won the Pan-American Games 50K events in 1967 and 1971.
An artist, Young owns and operates Larry Young Sculpture in Columbia, Mo. He’s created more than 50 large outdoor sculptures which are displayed throughout the world, made from bronze, stainless steel, marble and other materials.
Steeplechase
Brian Diemer: The most recent American steeplechase Olympic medalist, Diemer earned a bronze at the Los Angeles Games in 1984. He also competed in the 1988 and 1992 Games was the U.S. track and field captain in ’92. Diemer placed fourth at the 1987 World Championships. He earned the gold medal at the 1990 Goodwill Games and the silver at both the 1995 Pan-American Games and the U.S. Olympic Festival that same year. He was the NCAA steeplechase national champion for the University of Michigan. Diemer won the Glen Cunningham Award, presented to the top distance runner in the U.S., in 1989.
Diemer has been the men's cross country coach at Calvin College (in Grand Rapids, Mich.) since 1986 and has served as assistant men’s and women’s track and field coach at the school. He’s been named the NCAA Division III National Coach of the Year twice.
Hurdles
Roger Kingdom: Kingdom won the gold medal in the 110-meter hurdles at the 1984 and 1988 Olympics. He is a five-time U.S. champion and won gold medals in the 1989 World Cup, the 1989 World University Games and the 1989 and 1995 Pan-American Games. Kingdom won NCAA national championships in the 110 (1983) and the indoor 55-meters (1984) for the University of Pittsburgh. He held the world record in the 110 for a little more than four years.
Kingdom has served as head coach and then director of the men’s and women’s track and field and cross country teams at California University in Pennsylvania.
Edwin Moses: Career highlights for Moses include Olympic gold medals in the 400-meter hurdles in 1976 and 1984 (he missed 1980 due to the U.S. boycott) and a bronze medal in 1988. In a span of almost 10 years Moses won 107 consecutive finals, from 1977-87. He also won the 1987 World Championship and three World Cup titles. He’s won the Sullivan Award as the top amateur athlete in the U.S. and was a world record-holder in the 400.
Moses has been involved in public speaking and is a member of the International Olympic Committee’s Ethics Commission. In 2000, he was elected by his fellow members as the first Chairman of the Laureus World Sports Academy. The organization celebrates athletic excellence and promotes social change.
Benita Fitzgerald-Mosley: Then known as Benita Fitzgerald-Brown, she won the Olympic 100-meter hurdles gold medal in 1984. She was eighth in the 1983 World Championships and won NCAA hurdles national championships in 1982-83 at the University of Tennessee.
Fitzgerald-Mosley is president and CEO of Women in Cable Telecommunications, which provides programs and services for women in the telecommunications industry. She was named Cable TV Executive of the Year by Television Week Magazine in 2004. She also served the U.S. Olympic Committee from 1997-2000 in several roles and was the Director of the Olympic Training Center in San Diego from 1995-97. She and her family live in Haymarket, Va.
