Diane Williams (athlete)

Diane Williams is a retired World class sprinter who ran 100 m and 4x100 m relays. She was born 14 December 1960 in Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A

Diane Williams
Medal record
Women's athletics
Representing  United States
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 1987 Rome 4x100 m relay
Bronze medal – third place 1983 Helsinki 100 m
Pan American Games
Silver medal – second place1987 Indianapolis100 m

1980 Olympics

Williams qualified for the 1980 U.S. Olympic team but was unable to compete due to the 1980 Summer Olympics boycott. In 2007 she did receive one of 461 Congressional Gold Medals created especially for the spurned athletes.[1]

World Athletics Championships

Her best performances came in the first two World Athletics Championships in 1983 and 1987. In Helsinki in 1983 she was a Bronze medallist over 100 m. In 1987 she was fourth over 100 m and won gold as part of the 4x100 relay team, their winning time of 41.58 CBP secs is still one of the fastest in history. In 1988, she was 2nd to Florence Griffith Joyner's world record time of 10.49 in the 100m.

Aftermath

Diane has admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs during her career in the era preceding random out of competition testing. However, she managed to compete without the use of drugs through the 1987 season and ran faster than ever. She now tours schools where she relates her abuse of steroids and the struggle to regain her health in the aftermath of her career. An auto biography, True to Me, was published a few years ago which chronicles the aforementioned battle to perform clean at the highest level.

Height 1.63 m Weight 54 kg.

Personal bests
100 m 10.86 s
200 m 22.60 s
4 × 100 m Relay 41.55 s U.S Record

References
  1. Caroccioli, Tom; Caroccioli, Jerry (2008). Boycott: Stolen Dreams of the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games. Highland Park, IL: New Chapter Press. pp. 243–253. ISBN 978-0942257403.

Sources

The International Track and Field Annual 1988/89 ISBN 0-671-69917-2


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