Hasely Crawford

File:Hasely Crawford 1975.jpg

Hasely Crawford finishing first in the 60-yard dash at the USA Indoor Track and Field Championships in 1975

Hasely Joachim Crawford TC, OLY (born 16 August 1950) is a former track and field athlete from Trinidad and Tobago. In 1976, he became his country's first Olympic champion.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Hasely Crawford Stadium, in Port of Spain, was renamed in his honour in 2001.

Early years

Crawford was born in San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago, one of the eleven children of Lionel Crawford and Phyllis Holder, and began pursuing athletics at the age of 17. He is a six-time Trinidad and Tobago 100 metres champion, and won the 200 metre title in 1976. He debuted internationally in 1970, winning a bronze medal in the 100 metres at the Commonwealth Games. Only two years later, he surprisingly qualified for the 100 metres final of the Olympics in Munich, but pulled his hamstring after 20 metres and failed to finish.

Athletic career

Crawford ran for Eastern Michigan University under coach Bob Parks during his college years. He was the runner up at the 1975 Pan American Games in the 100 metres. His coach prepared him for the 100 metres and 200 metres events at the 1976 Summer Olympics with a strategy of only allowing him to run in a few races during the season. This tactic paid off, as Crawford, in the inside lane 1, narrowly won the 100 metres final in a time of 10.06 seconds, just 0.02 seconds in front of Don Quarrie of Jamaica, winning Trinidad and Tobago's first Olympic gold medal.<ref>Template:YouTube</ref> He had also qualified for the 200 metres final, but was forced to pull out mid-race after injuring his pelvis

After these Games, Crawford met with further success, winning the 100 metres event at the Central American and Caribbean Championships in 1977.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> On returning home, Hasely Crawford had both a jet and a stadium named after him. During his reign as the 100 metre Olympic champion, he also appeared on postage stamps and was awarded Trinidad and Tobago's highest honour, Trinity Cross, in 1978. This award was changed to the Order of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. Crawford went on to compete in a total of four Olympic Games as he also represented T&T at both the Moscow and Los Angeles editions in 1980 and 1984, but was unable to qualify for another final. Crawford's last international medals were a bronze and a silver which he won at the 1978 Commonwealth Games in the 100 metres and the 4 × 100 metres relay respectively.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2000, he was named the Trinidad & Tobago Athlete of the Millennium. He is a member of the Caribbean Hall of Fame, along with Ato Boldon and Arthur Wint, one of only three track and field athletes to be inducted.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Personal best marks

• 50 m: 5.78 (indoor, February 1979, Ottawa) <ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 100 m: 10.06 s (July 1976, Montreal) <ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 200 m: 20.93 s (June 1977, London) <ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

International competitions

Representing Template:TRI
1970	Commonwealth Games	Edinburgh, United Kingdom	3rd	100 m	10.33
			6th	4 × 100 m relay	40.3
1972	Olympic Games	Munich, West Germany	5th (sf)	100 m	10.361
1975	Pan American Games	Mexico City, Mexico	2nd	100 m	10.21
			15th (h)	200 m	21.65
			5th	4 × 100 m relay	39.25
1976	Olympic Games	Montreal, Canada	1st	100 m	10.06
			8th	200 m	79.60
1977	Central American and Caribbean Championships	Xalapa, Mexico	1st	100 m	10.38
			2nd	4 × 100 m relay	40.16
1978	Central American and Caribbean Games	Medellín, Colombia	1st	4 × 100 m relay	39.13
	Commonwealth Games	Edmonton, Canada	3rd	100 m	10.09
			2nd	4 × 100 m relay	39.29
1979	Pan American Games	San Juan, Puerto Rico	7th	4 × 100 m relay	40.44
1980	Olympic Games	Moscow, Soviet Union	8th (qf)	100 m	10.28
			10th (h)	4 × 100 m relay	39.74
1982	Commonwealth Games	Brisbane, Australia	11th (sf)	100 m	10.40
1983	Pan American Games	Caracas, Venezuela	5th	4 × 100 m relay	39.40
1984	Olympic Games	Los Angeles, United States	18th (qf)	100 m	10.56

¹Did not finish in the final

External links

• Template:World Athletics
• Template:Cite Sports-Reference
• Sunday Guardian, September 17, 2000 Page 21