News30 Nov 2021


Double 1983 world medallist King dies

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US sprinter Emmit King on the podium at the 1983 World Championships

World Athletics is deeply saddened to learn of the death of the USA’s 1983 world 100m bronze medallist Emmit King at the age of 62.

King, who had a 100m best of 10.04 set in 1988, also formed part of the gold medal-winning US 4x100m team at the inaugural World Athletics Championships in Helsinki in 1983. The quartet – also featuring Willie Gault, Calvin Smith and Carl Lewis – broke the world record with 37.86 to claim the title ahead of Italy, with King running the opening leg.

In the individual 100m final, King ran 10.24 to get bronze behind Lewis and Smith in a US sweep of the medals.

King also formed part of the US 4x100m squads for two Olympic Games, in Los Angeles in 1984 and Seoul in 1988, but did not race.

A couple of months before his global success in Helsinki, King won the NCAA 100m title in Houston, racing for the University of Alabama. Earlier in his career he had claimed 100m bronze at the 1979 Pan American Games in San Juan.

World Athletics

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