Obra J. Hogans (born 29 June 1982) is an American former

sprint Sprint may refer to: Aerospace * Spring WS202 Sprint, a Canadian aircraft design *Sprint (missile), an anti-ballistic missile Automobiles *Alfa Romeo Sprint, automobile produced by Alfa Romeo between 1976 and 1989 *Chevrolet Sprint, a rebadged v ...

er specializing in the

400 metres The 400 metres, or 400-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor running track, it is ...

and the 9th

World Athletics Indoor Championships The World Athletics Indoor Championships are a biennial indoor track and field competition served as the global championship for that version of the sport. Organised by the World Athletics, the competition was inaugurated as the ''World Indoor G ...

gold medallist in the 4 × 400 m relay. Before his professional career, Hogans was a multiple-time All American in the indoor 400 m for the

Seton Hall Pirates The Seton Hall Pirates are the intercollegiate athletic sports teams representing Seton Hall University, located in South Orange, New Jersey. The Pirates compete as a member of the NCAA Division I level (non-football sub-level), primarily compet ...

Career

After a prep career for the Stephenson High School Jaguars, Hogans signed with the Seton Hall Pirates track and field team. At the 2003

IC4A IC4A Championships (Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America) is an annual men's competition held at different colleges every year. Association was established in 1875, the competition (started in 1876) served as the top level coll ...

Indoor Championships, Hogan broke Howard Burnett's meeting record in the 400 m with a 45.86 second mark. Hogan qualified for two

NCAA Division I Men's Indoor Track and Field Championships The NCAA Men's Division I Indoor Track and Field Championship is an annual college athletics, collegiate indoor track and field competition for men organised by the National Collegiate Athletic Association. The first edition of the championship w ...

timed finals in the 400 m. At the 2003 edition, he placed 2nd overall behind

Gary Kikaya Gary Senga Kikaya (born 4 February 1980) is a retired sprinter from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He competed in the 400 m event at the 2004 and 2008 Olympics, but failed to reach the finals. Education Kikaya is the son of Kikaya bin Ka ...

in 45.82 seconds, and finished 6th in the relay. The following year, Hogan placed 4th in the 'A' final and was 8th overall. Following his 2003 indoor campaign success, Hogans was selected to represent the United States at the 2006 World Indoor Championships 4 × 400 m. Running second leg in the semi-finals, Hogan helped the U.S. team post the fastest qualifier, but him and James Davis were replaced by

LaShawn Merritt LaShawn Merritt (born June 27, 1986) is a retired American track and field athlete who competed in sprinting events, specializing in the 400 metres. He is a former Summer Olympics, Olympic champion over the distance and his personal best of 43.65 ...

and

Milton Campbell Milton Campbell (born May 15, 1976) is a former track and field athlete from the United States who mainly competed in the 400 metres. His success comes during the indoor season. At the 1999 IAAF World Indoor Championships he set a world recor ...

in the finals. The United States won the gold medal ahead of Poland and Russia. In May 2004, Hogans suffered a hamstring injury running a 4 × 100 m relay for Seton Hall. His coach John Moon offered him an "outside chance" of making the U.S. Olympic team and rested him from another race out of precaution. Hogans competed at the 2004 United States Olympic trials. He advanced from his first round with a 46.36 clocking, but he did not ultimately qualify to represent the

United States at the 2004 Summer Olympics The United States of America (USA) competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. 533 competitors, 279 men and 254 women, took part in 254 events in 31 sports. Medalists , style="text-align:left; width:78%; vertical-align:top;", ...

. Hogans won seven

Big East Conference The Big East Conference (stylized as BIG EAST) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference that competes in National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA NCAA Division I, Division I in 10 men's sports and 12 women's sports. H ...

titles and was awarded the Most Outstanding Performer at the 2003 conference meet. In 2020, he was ranked as one of the greatest

athletes of all time.

Personal life

Hogans was born on 29 June 1982 and grew up in

Decatur, Georgia Decatur () is a city and the county seat of DeKalb County, Georgia, DeKalb County, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, United States, part of the Atlanta metropolitan area. With a population of 24,928 in the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, th ...

. He attended Stephenson High School in

Stone Mountain Stone Mountain is a quartz monzonite dome Inselberg, monadnock and the site of Stone Mountain Park, east of Atlanta, Georgia. Outside the park is the city of Stone Mountain, Georgia. The park is the most visited tourist site in the state of Ge ...

DeKalb County, Georgia DeKalb County (, , ) is located in the north central portion of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 764,382, making it Georgia's fourth-most populous county. Its ...

. He graduated from New Jersey's

Seton Hall University Seton Hall University (SHU) is a Private university, private Catholic Church, Catholic research university in South Orange, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1856 by then-Bishop James Roosevelt Bayley and named after his aunt, Saint Elizab ...

in 2004. Running as a professional, Hogans trained with the Holyfield International track club.

Statistics

Personal best progression

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hogans, O. J. Living people 1982 births American male sprinters 21st-century American sportsmen World Athletics Indoor Championships winners Seton Hall Pirates men's track and field athletes Sportspeople from Decatur, Georgia Track and field athletes from Georgia (U.S. state)