MOSES 122 RACE WIN STREAK NAMED 3rd GREATEST MOMENT

 

 
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A two-time Olympic gold medalist, Edwin Moses is recognized as one of the greatest track and field athletes in history. Moses set the 400m hurdles world record four times and won the AAU Sullivan Award in 1983. The dominant intermediate hurdler in the world for more than a decade, Moses will always be remembered for his remarkable consecutive race winning streak that lasted nearly ten years.

After winning the 1976 Olympic 400m hurdles gold medal with a world record performance and setting an additional world record in winning the 1977 U.S. title, Moses lost a race in August of that year to West German Harald Schmid in Berlin. Who could have guessed then that nine years, nine months and nine days would pass before Moses would again experience defeat.

During that time span Moses won 122 races overall (107 finals races) and on his birthday (August 31, 1983) he set a world record of 47.02 seconds that would last nine years. During the streak he also won five U.S. and U.S. Olympic Trials titles, three World Cup titles and another Olympic gold medal in 1984.

The remarkable win streak finally came to and end when worldwide headlines announced that Danny Harris had defeated Moses in Madrid on June 4, 1987. Moses, who will always be remembered for his unprecedented 13 steps between hurdles instead of the customary 14, went on to win the bronze medal at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul. He was inducted into the National Track & Field Hall of Fame in 1994.

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