Wallace Spearmon
Encyclopedia
Wallace Spearmon, Jr., is a sprint
athlete
, who specializes in the 200 meters
. He is a two-time NCAA outdoor champion in the 200 m and won the silver medal
in the event at the 2005 World Championships in Athletics
. He has a personal best of 19.65 seconds for the distance, currently the seventh fastest runner of all-time and he also holds the indoor American record
.
He has won the bronze medal
twice at the World Championships in Athletics in 2007 and 2009. He also finished third at the 2008 Summer Olympics
, but was later disqualified for stepping out of his lane.
, where he competed collegiately for two seasons before turning pro. While at Arkansas, he won the 200 meters NCAA Outdoor title in 2004 and 2005 as well as the NCAA Indoor 200 m title in 2005. In August 2005, he won the silver medal in the 200 m at the 2005 World Championships
and in August 2007, he won the bronze medal at the 2007 World Championships
. Spearmon won the 200 m at the USA outdoor athletics championships in 2006 and finished second in 2007. At the 2009 World Championships
in Berlin he won another bronze. He ran a world best time of 31.88 for the 300 m indoors in February 2006.
His personal best in the 200 m is 19.65 seconds. This time (achieved in Daegu
, Korea) made him the third fastest man over the distance at that point. He is currently ranked as the fifth fastest runner ever. Only world record
holder Usain Bolt
(19.19), Yohan Blake
(19.26), Michael Johnson
(19.32), Walter Dix
(19.53), his training partner Tyson Gay
(19.58), and Xavier Carter
(19.63) have run faster. Despite the fact that he normally runs a "slower" first half of his 200 m races and goes on to pass people down the stretch, his 100 meters personal best is 9.96 s. He set that mark running in Shanghai
on September 28, 2007, beating 100 m world champion Tyson Gay.
Spearmon initially finished in the bronze medal position in the 200 m in the 2008 Summer Olympics
in Beijing
, but was disqualified for stepping out of his lane. The second place finisher, Churandy Martina
of the Netherlands Antilles
, was also disqualified, giving Americans Shawn Crawford
and Walter Dix
the silver and bronze medals, respectively.
He posted a quick time of 19.98 seconds in the 200 m in Kingston, Jamaica
in April 2010, finishing behind Usain Bolt. He reached the 2010 IAAF Diamond League
200 m final at the Weltklasse Zurich
meeting, and (in the absence of points leader Walter Dix) he won the first Diamond Race Trophy with a meeting record of 19.79 seconds. Following the Diamond League win, he ran 19.85 seconds to win at the Rieti IAAF Grand Prix
.
.
He was engaged to fellow American track athlete Monica Hargrove
, but is no longer.
On an April 2011 episode of MythBusters
, he worked with Adam Savage
and Jamie Hyneman
to demonstrate the possibility of a human running on water.
Sprint (race)
Sprints are short running events in athletics and track and field. Races over short distances are among the oldest running competitions. The first 13 editions of the Ancient Olympic Games featured only one event—the stadion race, which was a race from one end of the stadium to the other...
athlete
Track and field
Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...
, who specializes in the 200 meters
200 metres
A 200 metres race is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 m track, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques are needed to successfully run the race. A slightly shorter race, called the stadion and run on a straight track, was the first...
. He is a two-time NCAA outdoor champion in the 200 m and won the silver medal
Silver medal
A silver medal is a medal awarded to the second place finisher of contests such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, and contests with similar formats....
in the event at the 2005 World Championships in Athletics
2005 World Championships in Athletics
The 10th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations , were held in the Olympic Stadium, Helsinki, Finland , the site of the first IAAF World Championships in 1983. One theme of the 2005 championships was paralympic sports, some of...
. He has a personal best of 19.65 seconds for the distance, currently the seventh fastest runner of all-time and he also holds the indoor American record
United States records in track and field
The following are the national records in track & field in the United States maintained by USA Track & Field .Key:-Men:-Women:-Men:-Women:+ = en route to a longer distanceA = affected by altitude# = not officially ratified by IAAF...
.
He has won the bronze medal
Bronze medal
A bronze medal is a medal awarded to the third place finisher of contests such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The practice of awarding bronze third place medals began at the 1904 Olympic Games in St...
twice at the World Championships in Athletics in 2007 and 2009. He also finished third at the 2008 Summer Olympics
2008 Summer Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, was a major international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, China, from August 8 to August 24, 2008. A total of 11,028 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees competed in 28 sports and 302 events...
, but was later disqualified for stepping out of his lane.
Career
Spearmon is a graduate of Fayetteville High School and attended the University of ArkansasUniversity of Arkansas
The University of Arkansas is a public, co-educational, land-grant, space-grant, research university. It is classified by the Carnegie Foundation as a research university with very high research activity. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and is located in...
, where he competed collegiately for two seasons before turning pro. While at Arkansas, he won the 200 meters NCAA Outdoor title in 2004 and 2005 as well as the NCAA Indoor 200 m title in 2005. In August 2005, he won the silver medal in the 200 m at the 2005 World Championships
2005 World Championships in Athletics
The 10th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations , were held in the Olympic Stadium, Helsinki, Finland , the site of the first IAAF World Championships in 1983. One theme of the 2005 championships was paralympic sports, some of...
and in August 2007, he won the bronze medal at the 2007 World Championships
2007 World Championships in Athletics
The 11th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations , were held at Nagai Stadium in Osaka, Japan from 24 August to 2 September 2007...
. Spearmon won the 200 m at the USA outdoor athletics championships in 2006 and finished second in 2007. At the 2009 World Championships
2009 World Championships in Athletics
The 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics were held in Berlin, Germany from 15–23 August 2009. The majority of events took place in the Olympiastadion, while the marathon and racewalking events started and finished at the Brandenburg Gate....
in Berlin he won another bronze. He ran a world best time of 31.88 for the 300 m indoors in February 2006.
His personal best in the 200 m is 19.65 seconds. This time (achieved in Daegu
Daegu
Daegu , also known as Taegu, and officially the Daegu Metropolitan City, is a city in South Korea, the fourth largest after Seoul, Busan, and Incheon, and the third largest metropolitan area in the country with over 2.5 million residents. The city is the capital and principal city of the...
, Korea) made him the third fastest man over the distance at that point. He is currently ranked as the fifth fastest runner ever. Only world record
World record
A world record is usually the best global performance ever recorded and verified in a specific skill or sport. The book Guinness World Records collates and publishes notable records of all types, from first and best to worst human achievements, to extremes in the natural world and beyond...
holder Usain Bolt
Usain Bolt
The Honourable Usain St. Leo Bolt, OJ, C.D. , is a Jamaican sprinter and a five-time World and three-time Olympic gold medalist. He is the world record and Olympic record holder in the 100 metres, the 200 metres and the 4×100 metres relay...
(19.19), Yohan Blake
Yohan Blake
Yohan Blake is a Jamaican sprinter and the current 100 metre World Champion. He holds the national junior record for the 100 metres, and tied Seun Ogunkoya as the youngest sprinter to have broken the 10-second barrier...
(19.26), Michael Johnson
Michael Johnson (athlete)
Michael Duane Johnson is a retired American sprinter. He won four Olympic gold medals and eight world championship gold medals. Johnson currently holds the world and Olympic records in the 400 m and 4 x 400 meters relay. He formerly held the world and Olympic record in the 200 m, and the world...
(19.32), Walter Dix
Walter Dix
Walter Dix is an American sprinter who specializes in the 100 meters and 200 meters. He is the fourth fastest 200 m runner ever with a best of 19.53 seconds, and has broken the 10-second barrier in the 100 m with a best of 9.88 seconds.Dix was a highly successful amateur...
(19.53), his training partner Tyson Gay
Tyson Gay
Tyson Gay is an American track and field sprinter. His primary events are the 100 meters and 200 meters. His personal bests establish him as the second fastest athlete in the 100 meters and the fifth fastest athlete in the history of the 200 meters, with times of 9.69 and...
(19.58), and Xavier Carter
Xavier Carter
Xavier Carter is an American professional track and field athlete. He attended Louisiana State University and was a star on the track and field team as well a member of the football team. Prior to LSU, Xavier Carter graduated from Palm Bay Senior High School in Melbourne, FL...
(19.63) have run faster. Despite the fact that he normally runs a "slower" first half of his 200 m races and goes on to pass people down the stretch, his 100 meters personal best is 9.96 s. He set that mark running in Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
on September 28, 2007, beating 100 m world champion Tyson Gay.
Spearmon initially finished in the bronze medal position in the 200 m in the 2008 Summer Olympics
2008 Summer Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, was a major international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, China, from August 8 to August 24, 2008. A total of 11,028 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees competed in 28 sports and 302 events...
in Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
, but was disqualified for stepping out of his lane. The second place finisher, Churandy Martina
Churandy Martina
Churandy Martina is a sprinter from Curaçao, currently representing the Netherlands. His personal best time over 100 metres is 9.93 seconds, a national record, achieved in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games final...
of the Netherlands Antilles
Netherlands Antilles
The Netherlands Antilles , also referred to informally as the Dutch Antilles, was an autonomous Caribbean country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, consisting of two groups of islands in the Lesser Antilles: Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao , in Leeward Antilles just off the Venezuelan coast; and Sint...
, was also disqualified, giving Americans Shawn Crawford
Shawn Crawford
Shawn Crawford is an American sprint athlete. He competes in the 100 meters and 200 meters events. He won gold at the 2004 Summer Olympics and silver at the 2008 Summer Olympics in the 200 meters....
and Walter Dix
Walter Dix
Walter Dix is an American sprinter who specializes in the 100 meters and 200 meters. He is the fourth fastest 200 m runner ever with a best of 19.53 seconds, and has broken the 10-second barrier in the 100 m with a best of 9.88 seconds.Dix was a highly successful amateur...
the silver and bronze medals, respectively.
He posted a quick time of 19.98 seconds in the 200 m in Kingston, Jamaica
Kingston, Jamaica
Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long sand spit which connects the town of Port Royal and the Norman Manley International Airport to the rest of the island...
in April 2010, finishing behind Usain Bolt. He reached the 2010 IAAF Diamond League
2010 IAAF Diamond League
The 2010 IAAF Diamond League was the first edition of the Diamond League, an annual series of fourteen one-day track and field meetings. The series began on 14 May in Doha, Qatar and ended on 27 August in Brussels, Belgium....
200 m final at the Weltklasse Zurich
Weltklasse Zürich
Weltklasse Zürich is an annual track and field meeting at the Letzigrund in Zurich, Switzerland. Previously one of the IAAF Golden League events, it is now part of the IAAF Diamond League. One of the first large-scale international athletics events , it is sometimes referred to as the one day...
meeting, and (in the absence of points leader Walter Dix) he won the first Diamond Race Trophy with a meeting record of 19.79 seconds. Following the Diamond League win, he ran 19.85 seconds to win at the Rieti IAAF Grand Prix
Rieti IAAF Grand Prix
The Rieti Meeting is an annual athletics event at the Stadio Raul Guidobaldi in Rieti, Italy that takes place in late August or early September. Previously one of the IAAF Grand Prix events, it is now part of the IAAF World Challenge....
.
Personal life
Spearmon's father, Wallace Spearmon, Sr, also was a sprinter. He was the 1987 bronze medalist in the 200 meters at the Pan American GamesAthletics at the 1987 Pan American Games
The Athletics Competition at the 1987 Pan American Games was held in Indianapolis, United States. The events were competed at the IU Indianapolis Track and Soccer Stadium.-Men's events:-Women's events:-Medal table:-References:*...
.
He was engaged to fellow American track athlete Monica Hargrove
Monica Hargrove
Monica Hargrove is an American track and field athlete who specializes in the 200 and 400 metres. She won the silver medal at the 2006 IAAF World Indoor Championships as part of the 4×400-meter relay team, and also set a world best in the distance medley relay at the Penn Relays that year.-College...
, but is no longer.
On an April 2011 episode of MythBusters
MythBusters
MythBusters is a science entertainment TV program created and produced by Beyond Television Productions for the Discovery Channel. The series is screened by numerous international broadcasters, including Discovery Channel Australia, Discovery Channel Latin America, Discovery Channel Canada, Quest...
, he worked with Adam Savage
Adam Savage
Adam Whitney Savage is an American industrial design and special effects designer/fabricator, actor, educator, and co-host of the Discovery Channel television series MythBusters. His model work has appeared in major films, including Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones and The Matrix...
and Jamie Hyneman
Jamie Hyneman
James Franklin "Jamie" Hyneman is an American special effects expert, best known for being the co-host of the television series MythBusters. He is also the owner of M5 Industries, the special effects workshop where MythBusters is filmed...
to demonstrate the possibility of a human running on water.
Personal bests
| Event | Time (sec Second The second is a unit of measurement of time, and is the International System of Units base unit of time. It may be measured using a clock.... ) |
Venue | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60 meters 60 meters The 60 meter band or 5 MHz band is a relatively new amateur radio allocation and originally only available in a few countries, including the United States, United Kingdom, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Ireland and Iceland... |
6.70 | Fayetteville, Arkansas Fayetteville, Arkansas Fayetteville is the county seat of Washington County, and the third largest city in Arkansas. The city is centrally located within the county and is home to the University of Arkansas. Fayetteville is also deep in the Boston Mountains, a subset of The Ozarks... , United States |
January 26, 2008 |
| 100 meters | 9.96 | Shanghai Shanghai Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010... , China |
September 28, 2007 |
| 200 meters | 19.65 | Daegu Daegu Daegu , also known as Taegu, and officially the Daegu Metropolitan City, is a city in South Korea, the fourth largest after Seoul, Busan, and Incheon, and the third largest metropolitan area in the country with over 2.5 million residents. The city is the capital and principal city of the... , South Korea |
September 28, 2006 |
| 200 meters (indoors) | 20.10 NR United States records in track and field The following are the national records in track & field in the United States maintained by USA Track & Field .Key:-Men:-Women:-Men:-Women:+ = en route to a longer distanceA = affected by altitude# = not officially ratified by IAAF... |
Fayetteville, Arkansas Fayetteville, Arkansas Fayetteville is the county seat of Washington County, and the third largest city in Arkansas. The city is centrally located within the county and is home to the University of Arkansas. Fayetteville is also deep in the Boston Mountains, a subset of The Ozarks... , United States |
March 11, 2005 |
| 300 meters (indoors) | 31.88 WR | Fayetteville, Arkansas Fayetteville, Arkansas Fayetteville is the county seat of Washington County, and the third largest city in Arkansas. The city is centrally located within the county and is home to the University of Arkansas. Fayetteville is also deep in the Boston Mountains, a subset of The Ozarks... , United States |
February 10, 2006 |
| 400 meters | 45.22 | Paris Paris Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region... , France |
July 8, 2006 |
- All information taken from IAAF profile.
External links
- USA Track & Field: Wallace Spearmon
- Flotrack Interviews of Wallace Spearmon (video)
- USATF Athlete of the week: January 2005, July 2005, February 2006, October 2006