Edwin Moses

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Lore & Background

Moses was born in Dayton, Ohio, to educators; his father was a Tuskegee Airman. He matriculated at Morehouse College in 1973, majoring in physics and industrial engineering while competing for the school track team. Morehouse did not have its own track, so Moses used public high school facilities to train. Initially competing mostly in the 120-yard hurdles and 440-yard dash, he ran only one 400 m hurdles race before March 1976. Once he focused on the event, he quickly found success. Standing 6'2", his trademark technique was taking a consistent 13 steps between each hurdle, pulling away in the second half as rivals often took 15 strides or changed their stride pattern. He qualified for the 1976 U.S. Olympic team and won gold in Montreal, setting a world record of 47.63 seconds. The next year he broke his own world record at Drake Stadium with 47.45 seconds, then lost to West Germany's Harald Schmid on August 26, 1977, in Berlin—his fourth defeat in the 400 m hurdles. Beginning the next week, Moses beat Schmid by 15 metres in Düsseldorf and did not lose another race for nine years, nine months, and nine days. He qualified for the 1980 U.S. Olympic team but could not compete due to the boycott; he received one of 461 Congressional Gold Medals created for the athletes. At the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, Moses recited the Olympic Oath and won his second Olympic gold medal. By the time Danny Harris beat him in Madrid on June 4, 1987, Moses had won 122 consecutive races, set the world record twice more, won three World Cup titles, a World Championship gold, and his two Olympic gold medals. After the loss, he won 10 more races in a row, collecting his second world gold in Rome in August 1987. Moses finished third in the final 400 m hurdles race of his career at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul.

Reader's Guide

Edwin Moses's impact goes beyond his racing. In 1979 he took a leave of absence from General Dynamics to run full-time. Over the next two years, he was instrumental in reforming international and Olympic eligibility rules. At his urging, an Athletes Trust Fund program was established to allow athletes to benefit from government- or privately supplied stipends, direct payments, and commercial endorsement money without jeopardizing their Olympic eligibility. Moses presented the plan to IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch, and the concept was ratified in 1981. This fund is the basis of many Olympic athlete subsistence, stipend, and corporate support programs, including the U.S. Olympic Committee's Direct Athlete Assistance Programs. As a sports administrator, Moses also participated in developing anti-drug policies and helped create one of sports' most stringent random in-competition drug testing systems. In December 1988 he designed and created amateur sports' first random out-of-competition drug testing program. A physicist, Moses has been a leader in creating structures and protocols that have significantly reduced the use of illegal, performance-enhancing pharmaceuticals in athletics for many decades. In 2000 he was elected the first Chairman of the Laureus World Sports Academy, an international service organization of world-class athletes. The Edwin Moses Track at Morehouse's B. T. Harvey Stadium is named in his honor, and he is the school's only alumnus to win an Olympic gold medal.

Did You Know?

• Moses ran only one 400 m hurdles race before March 1976, then won Olympic gold and set a world record in his first international meet.
• Between 1977 and 1987, Moses won 122 consecutive races and did not lose for nine years, nine months, and nine days.
• Moses received a Congressional Gold Medal for being part of the 1980 U.S. Olympic team that was boycotted from the Moscow Games.
• In December 1988, Moses designed and created amateur sports' first random out-of-competition drug testing program.
• Moses is the only alumnus of Morehouse College to win an Olympic gold medal.