Angelo F. Taylor (born December 29, 1978) is an American

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

athlete, winner of 400-meter hurdles at the

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

and

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

. His personal record for the hurdles event is 47.25 seconds. His time puts him in a tie with Félix Sánchez for the #14 performer of all time. Sánchez also won two Olympic gold medals, in 2004 between Taylor's two golds and 2012, immediately following. Taylor also has a 400-meter dash best of 44.05 seconds, ranking him as the joint 29th performer of all time. He won the bronze medal in the 400 m at the

2007 World Championships in Athletics The 11th World Championships in Athletics, () under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), were held at Nagai Stadium in Osaka, Japan from 24 August to 2 September 2007. 200 of the IAAF's 212 member feder ...

. He is a three-time world champion in the 4 × 400 m relay with the United States (2007, 2009 and 2011), and was also a relay gold medalist at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and silver medalist at the 2012 London Olympics. Since 2019, Taylor has been serving a ban from the United States Center for SafeSport for his 2006 criminal convictions involving minors.

Career

Early life

Born in

Albany, Georgia Albany ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. Located on the Flint River, it is the county seat of Dougherty County, Georgia, Dougherty County, and is the sole incorporated city in that county. Located in Southwest Geo ...

, Angelo Taylor studied at the

Georgia Institute of Technology The Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Georgia Tech, GT, and simply Tech or the Institute) is a public university, public research university and Institute of technology (United States), institute of technology in Atlanta, ...

and won the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

title in 1998 and placed second in 1997. In 1998, Taylor also won a silver medal at the US National Championships. He went on to win the title three times from 1999 to 2001. Taylor made his debut in a major international meet at the 1999 World Championships, where he finished third in his heat in 400 m hurdles, but ran a third leg at the gold medal-winning US 4 × 400 m

relay A relay Electromechanical relay schematic showing a control coil, four pairs of normally open and one pair of normally closed contacts An automotive-style miniature relay with the dust cover taken off A relay is an electrically operated switc ...

team.

2000 Olympic champion

In 2000, Taylor ran a world-leading time at the Olympic Trials and entered the Sydney Games as a favorite. In a thrilling final, Taylor moved from fourth place to first over the final two hurdles and barely edged

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

's Hadi Souan Somayli by 0.03 seconds in the closest finish in the history of the event. Taylor ran in the heat and semifinal of 4 × 400 m relay race, the finals team for which won the gold medal. On August 2, 2008, the International Olympic Committee stripped the gold medal from the U.S. men's 4x400-meter relay team, after Antonio Pettigrew admitted using a banned substance. Three of the four runners in the event final, including Pettigrew and twins Alvin and Calvin Harrison, and preliminary round runner Jerome Young, all have admitted or tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs. Only Taylor and world record holder Michael Johnson were not implicated. Taylor was eliminated in the semifinals of the 2001 World Championships in 400 m hurdles while struggling with a sinus infection and flu, but won a gold as a member of US 4 × 400 m relay team. He didn't make the US World Championships team in 2003 and was unsuccessful in defending his Olympic title at the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

, finishing fourth in the semifinal.

Second Olympic title

In 2007 Taylor set a new personal best in the 400 m and won the American title in the event. He won the 400 m bronze medal at the 2007 World Championships in

Osaka is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third-most populous city in J ...

and won another gold medal as part of the USA 4 × 400 m relay team. At the

in Beijing, China, Taylor became a double Olympic champion, winning gold in the 400 metre hurdles and the 4 × 400 m relay. At the

2009 World Championships in Athletics The 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics () were held in Berlin, Germany from 15 to 23 August 2009. The majority of events took place in the Olympiastadion, while the marathon and racewalking events started and finished at the Brandenbu ...

he failed to make it out of the heats of the hurdles, but was part of the American 4 × 400 m relay team which successfully defended its world title. Taylor finished second in the 200 m at the 2010 Rieti IAAF Grand Prix in August with a new personal record time of 20.23 seconds. He fell behind Kerron Clement and

Bershawn Jackson Bershawn D. Jackson (born May 8, 1983) is an American track and field, athlete, who mainly competes in the 400 metres hurdles, 400 m hurdles, but also is a 400 metres, 400 m runner. At the 2008 Summer Olympics, Bershawn "Batman" Jacks ...

in the hurdles rankings that year, but in the 2010 IAAF Diamond League he managed top three finishes in Lausanne, Monaco and Stockholm. He had a season's best of 47.79 seconds for the event that year. He also had two podium finishes in the 400 m, coming second at the

Golden Gala Golden Gala is an annual Track and field, track and field event normally held at the Stadio Olimpico, Olympic Stadium in Rome, Italy. Previously one of the IAAF Golden League events, it is now part of the Diamond League. Following the 2013 deat ...

and third in a season's best of 44.72 seconds at the Weltklasse Zurich. He came third in the 400 m hurdles at the

2011 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships The 2011 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships were held at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon. Organised by USA Track and Field, the four-day competition took place from June 23–26 and served as the national championships in track and field f ...

with a season's best run of 47.94 seconds, gaining a place on the national team. He won at the

Herculis The Herculis is an annual track and field meet at Stade Louis II in Fontvieille, Monaco. Previously one of the five IAAF Super Grand Prix events. Herculis is now part of the Diamond League. Editions World records Over the course of its histo ...

meeting in July, but did not peak for the

2011 World Championships in Athletics The 13th IAAF World Championships in Athletics () was an international athletics competition that was held in Daegu, South Korea. It started on 27 August 2011 and finished on 4 September 2011. The United States topped the medal standings in the ...

, where he finished seventh in the final. He performed well in the relay, however, taking the United States to victory in a time of 2:59.31 minutes alongside Greg Nixon, Bershawn Jackson and LaShawn Merritt. Taylor began his 2012 season with a runner-up finish at the Mt. SAC Relays. He was third over 400 m at the Doha

2012 Diamond League The 2012 IAAF Diamond League (also known as the 2012 Samsung Diamond League for sponsorship purposes) was the third edition of the Diamond League, an annual series of fourteen one-day track and field meetings. The series began on 11 May in Doha, Q ...

meet and won the first 400 m hurdles race in Shanghai.

2012 London Summer Olympics

Taylor was captain of the USA men's track Olympic squad in his fourth Olympics. The two-time 400 m hurdles gold medalist finished fifth in the event in a time of 48.25. In the 4 × 400 × m relay finals, Taylor ran the anchor leg and was given the lead but was chased down by the Bahamas, so the USA team won the silver medal.

Statistics

Personal bests

Personal life

Taylor currently resides in Atlanta, Georgia with wife Lynnita and is father to twin boys Xzaviah and Isaiah. His father, Angelo Taylor Sr., was also involved in sports and he competed in

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

and track at

Albany State University Albany State University is a Public university, public Historically Black College and University, historically black university in Albany, Georgia, United States. In 2017, Darton State College and Albany State University consolidated to become ...

. His family spent time living in Saudi Arabia in the 1990s as he was training and setting his sights on the Olympics.

SafeSport suspension

On May 16, 2019, the ''

Orange County Register ''The Orange County Register'' is a paid daily List of newspapers in California, newspaper published in California. The ''Register'', published in Orange County, California, is owned by the private equity firm Alden Global Capital via its Digit ...

'' published an exposé of the failure of the United States Center for SafeSport to suspend Taylor after receiving notification of his 2006 criminal convictions, for contributing to the delinquency of two 15-year old girls, as required by the United States Center for SafeSport code.

USA Track & Field USA Track & Field (USATF) is a United States national governing body for the sports of track and field, cross country running, road running, and racewalking (known as the sport of athletics outside the US). The USATF was known between 1979 and 1 ...

issued a "provisional suspension" for Taylor later that day. He was placed on USATF's list of suspended individuals, where as of February 2025 he still remained. SafeSport officially noted Taylor's violation that same day, and declared him ineligible, with the announced reason being "Criminal Disposition – involving minor".

Notes

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Angelo 1978 births Living people African-American track and field athletes American male hurdlers American male sprinters American people convicted of child sexual abuse Athletes (track and field) at the 2000 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Child sexual abuse in the United States Olympic gold medalists for the United States in track and field Olympic silver medalists for the United States in track and field Sexual assaults in the United States Sports controversies Sportspeople from Albany, Georgia Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets men's track and field athletes Track and field athletes from Georgia (U.S. state) World Athletics Championships medalists Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Competitors stripped of Summer Olympics medals Goodwill Games medalists in athletics World Athletics Championships winners Competitors at the 1998 Goodwill Games 21st-century American sportsmen 21st-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century American sportsmen 20th-century African-American sportsmen NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners Diamond League winners