Danny Lee Harris (born September 7, 1965) is an American former

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

athlete who specialized in the

400-meter hurdles The 400 metres hurdles is a track and field hurdling event. The event has been on the Summer Olympics, Olympic athletics (sport), athletics programme since 1900 Summer Olympics, 1900 for men and since 1984 Summer Olympics, 1984 for women. On a s ...

(400 mH), in which he won silver medals at the 1984 Olympics and the 1987 World Championships.

Hurdling career

Danny Harris is an alumnus of Perris High School in

Perris, California Perris is an old railway city in Riverside County, California, United States, located east-southeast of Los Angeles and north of San Diego. It is known for Lake Perris, an artificial lake, skydiving, and its sunny dry climate. Perris is wit ...

, where he grew up. In 1983, he won the CIF California State Championship in the 300 mH, and ran a thrilling anchor leg vs Hawthorne High School's

Henry Thomas Henry Jackson Thomas Jr. (born September 9, 1971) is an American actor. He began his career as a child actor and had a lead role in the film '' E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'' (1982), for which he won a Young Artist Award and received Golden Globe ...

in the team's second place 4 × 400 meters relay team, leading Perris to its most impressive showing at the event. Harris attended

Iowa State University Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the n ...

and competed for the

Iowa State Cyclones track and field Iowa State Cyclones track and field represents Iowa State University (ISU) and competes in the Big 12 Conference of NCAA Division I. The team is coached by Martin Smith, he is currently in his 4th year at Iowa State. Originally, the men's and wome ...

. His time of 48.02 in 1984 at age 18 remained the 400 mH world under-20 record until Sean Burrell's 47.85 in 2021. Harris finished second to Ed Moses in the 1984 Olympic final. He collected three NCAA 400 mH titles and four Drake Relay titles while at Iowa State. He was never beaten by a collegiate athlete in the 400 mH during his time at Iowa State, and helped lead the Cyclones to three outdoor Big Eight team titles and two indoor crowns during his three-year career, collecting 12 titles. He set Big Eight records in the 400 mH,

600 yards Middle-distance running events are track races longer than sprints, up to 3000 metres. The standard middle distances are the 800 metres, 1500 metres and mile run, although the 3000 metres may also be classified as a middle-distance event. The 15 ...

and 4 × 400 relay. At a meeting in Madrid in 1987, Harris became the first man to defeat Edwin Moses at 400 mH since

Harald Schmid Harald Schmid (; born 29 September 1957) is a retired German track and field athlete who competed in the sprints and hurdles. He was one of the best 400 metres hurdles runners in the world during his career. Career Schmid won bronze with the We ...

in 1977, though Moses narrowly beat Harris in the 1987 World Championships. Harris missed out on the 1988 Olympics after finishing fifth in the U.S. Olympic Trials, behind Moses,

Andre Phillips André Lamar Phillips (born September 5, 1959) is a retired American track and field athlete who is best known for winning the 400 metres hurdles gold medal at the 1988 Olympic Games. Phillips spent most of his career in the shadow of his idol, ...

and Kevin Young (respectively the 1984, 1988, and

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

Olympic champions). Harris' personal best for the 400 mH was 47.38 seconds, set at

Athletissima Athletissima is an annual athletics meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland. Previously one of the five IAAF Super Grand Prix events, it is now part of the Diamond League. The first edition was held on 8 July 1977 in the Stade Pierre de Coubertin. In ...

in Lausanne in July 1991. He finished fifth in that year's World Championships. He failed an anti-doping test at the 1992

USA Indoor Track and Field Championships The USA Indoor Track and Field Championships is an annual indoor track and field competition organized by USA Track & Field, which serves as the American national championships for the sport. In years which feature a World Indoor Championships in ...

and the

IAAF World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body for ...

suspended him for four years. After he completed a

drug rehabilitation Drug rehabilitation is the process of medical or psychotherapeutic treatment for dependency on psychoactive substances such as alcohol, prescription drugs, and street drugs such as cannabis, cocaine, heroin or amphetamines. The general inte ...

program,

USA Track & Field USA Track & Field (USATF) is the 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 ...

agreed to lift his ban in 1994, but after a few weeks the IAAF reimposed it until the following year. He was fourth in the 1995 400 mH world rankings, but a

hamstring In human anatomy, a hamstring () is any one of the three posterior thigh muscles in between the hip and the knee (from medial to lateral: semimembranosus, semitendinosus and biceps femoris). The hamstrings are susceptible to injury. In quadrupeds, ...

injury kept him out of the 1995 World Championships. His career ended with a second positive cocaine test after a 1996 race in Rio de Janeiro. In his 1999 autobiography,

Roger Black Roger Anthony Black MBE (born 31 March 1966) is a retired English athlete who competed internationally for Great Britain and England. During his athletics career, he won individual silver medals in the 400 metres sprint at both the Olympic G ...

said of Harris: "He was without doubt the most talented athlete I've ever trained with. ... The irony of the whole thing was, cocaine was not making him a better athlete, it was making him worse."

Later life

By his own admission, Harris began using

cocaine Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechuan languages, Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly recreational drug use, used recreationally for its euphoria, euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from t ...

during his disappointment at missing out on the 1988 Olympics and relapsed after missing a medal in 1991. After his 1992 doping ban he lost his shoe deal and had to sell his house in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. In the decade after his 1996 ban he experienced periods of serious addiction and homelessness. By 2008 he was clean and working at the Midnight Mission

homeless shelter Homeless shelters are a type of homeless service agency which provide temporary residence for homeless individuals and families. Shelters exist to provide residents with safety and protection from exposure to the weather while simultaneously r ...

where he had previously been a client. Harris later worked as a track coach at various high schools. He had helped Perris High School boys' track team in 2001 to their first League Championship since his own time as a student there. Harris was inducted into the Drake Relays Hall of Fame in 1995, the Iowa State Hall of Fame in 2000, and the

Iowa Sports Hall of Fame The Iowa Sports Hall of Fame, sponsored by the ''Des Moines Register'', honors outstanding athletes and sports contributors. To be eligible, members must have either been born in Iowa or gained prominence while competing for a college or universi ...

in 2005. In 2016, ''Crossing the Line'', a documentary film about his life, was shown at

film festival A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more cinemas or screening venues, usually in a single city or region. Increasingly, film festivals show some films outdoors. Films may be of recent date and, depending upon ...

References

External links

Danny Harris
at

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Danny 1965 births Living people African-American male track and field athletes American male hurdlers American sportspeople in doping cases Athletes (track and field) at the 1984 Summer Olympics Doping cases in athletics Homeless people Iowa State Cyclones men's track and field athletes Medalists at the 1984 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for the United States in track and field World Athletics Championships athletes for the United States World Athletics Championships medalists People from Perris, California Sportspeople from Riverside County, California Sportspeople from Torrance, California Track and field athletes from California 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American sportspeople