David Oliver (born April 24, 1982), is the Director of Track & Field at Howard University and a retired American

hurdling Hurdling is the act of jumping over an obstacle at a high speed or in a sprint. In the early 19th century, hurdlers ran at and jumped over each hurdle (sometimes known as 'burgles'), landing on both feet and checking their forward motion. Today ...

athlete An athlete is most commonly a person who competes in one or more sports involving physical strength, speed, power, or endurance. Sometimes, the word "athlete" is used to refer specifically to sport of athletics competitors, i.e. including track ...

. As a

professional athlete In professional sports, as opposed to amateur sports, participants receive payment for their performance. Professionalism in sport has come to the fore through a combination of developments. Mass media and increased leisure have brought larger a ...

, he competed in the 110 meter hurdles event outdoor and the

60 meter hurdles 60 metres hurdles is a distance in hurdling which is generally run in indoor competitions. It is equivalent with the first 5 hurdles of a standard outdoor hurdle race. The current women's and men's world records are 7.65 seconds (Devynne Ch ...

event indoors. He is the former 110 meter hurdles champion winning the gold medal at the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

in 2013 with a time of 13 seconds. He won the bronze medal in the

2008 Olympic Games 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 fr ...

and won another bronze at the 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships. He was the American record holder in the 110 meter hurdles. Oliver is a four-time U.S. Champion, having won indoor and outdoor titles in 2008, a second outdoor title at the 2010

USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships The USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships is an annual track and field competition organized by USA Track & Field, which serves as the American national championships for the sport. Since the year 1992, in the years which feature a Summer Oly ...

and third outdoor title at the 2011

. He also won the

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have b ...

at the 2008 IAAF World Athletics Final. He has a personal best of 12.89 seconds in the 110 m hurdles, placing him fifth on the all-time list at the time of his retirement from athletics at the end of the 2017 season (fourth at the time he ran it).

Career

College

Having been recruited from Denver (CO) East High School by

Howard University Howard University is a private, historically black, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity" and accredited by the Mid ...

's head coach, Michael Merritt, Oliver enjoyed his first successes on the track in the

Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC ) is a List of NCAA conferences, collegiate athletic conference whose full members are historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and the Mid-A ...

(MEAC). He won four consecutive outdoor MEAC

110 metres hurdles The 110 metres hurdles, or 110-metre hurdles, is a hurdling track and field event for men. It is included in the athletics (sport), athletics programme at the Summer Olympic Games. The female counterpart is the 100 metres hurdles. As part of a rac ...

titles, from 2001 to 2004. He was also a MEAC indoor champion in the 55 metres hurdles, winning in 2003 in 7.34 seconds. 60 m h Doha 2010

Oliver received his first

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

n honor with a fourth-place finish at the 2003 NCAA Men's Outdoor Track and Field Championship, running a personal record 13.60 seconds in the process, adding to a long history of Howard University's Track and Field

NCAA Division I-A The NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, is the highest level of college football in the United States. The FBS consists of the largest schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). As ...

All-Americans. This was Howard's most recent track and field All-American since Calvin Branch received the honor in 1989. The following year, he received a second All American honor, having taken fifth place at the NCAA Men's Indoor Track and Field Championship with a university record of 7.69 seconds in the

60 metres hurdles 60 metres hurdles is a distance in hurdling which is generally run in indoor competitions. It is equivalent with the first 5 hurdles of a standard outdoor hurdle race. The current women's and men's world records are 7.65 seconds (Devynne Ch ...

. Later that season, he recorded an outdoor Howard University record of 13.55 seconds for the 110 m hurdles at the Georgia Tech Invitational in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

. During his time at college, he also played

wide receiver A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...

for the Howard Bison football team.David Oliver Biography

USATF 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 ...

. Retrieved on June 29, 2010. Mostly playing on

special teams In American football, the specific role that a player takes on the field is referred to as their position. Under the modern rules of American football, both teams are allowed 11 players on the field at one time and have "unlimited free substitu ...

, Oliver's physical abilities drew the attention of NFL teams. He was invited for try-outs with the

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. The Dolphins compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team ...

and

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. The Vikings compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. Founded in 1960 as ...

Professional

After leaving college, he pursued track and field professionally. While coached by Brooks Johnson, and managed by Marisa Reich he won at the

Internationales Stadionfest The Internationales Stadionfest (ISTAF) is an annual track and field Sport of athletics, athletics meeting at the Olympiastadion (Berlin), Olympic Stadium in Berlin, Germany. It was first held in July 1921 at the Deutsches Stadion (Berlin), Deut ...

IAAF Golden League The IAAF Golden League was an annual series of outdoor track and field meetings organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). Athletes who won specific events at all of the series meetings were awarded a jackpot prize ...

meet in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

in 2006 and finished fifth at that year's World Athletics Final. It was his first big international victory. At the 2008

Penn Relays The Penn Relays (officially The Penn Relay Carnival) is the oldest and largest track and field competition in the United States, hosted annually since April 21, 1895 by the University of Pennsylvania at Franklin Field in Philadelphia. In 2012 ...

, Oliver completed the fastest 4×120 yd shuttle hurdle relays of all-time with teammates Aubrey Herring, Joel Brown,

Aries Merritt Aries Merritt (born July 24, 1985) is an American track and field athlete who specializes in the 110 metres hurdles, 110 metre hurdles, and currently holds the List of world records in athletics, world record in that event with a time of 12.80&n ...

, finishing the rarely contested event in a record time of 53.31 seconds. In 2007, he was second at the

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 i ...

after winning at the Tyson Invitational. Outdoors, he improved his personal best to 13.14 seconds, finishing runner-up at the Qatar Athletic Super Grand Prix, and was third at the

. This meant he qualified for 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 ...

and he almost reached the final, being knocked out of the semi-finals after finishing fourth in his race. RoblesBeijing

In 2008 Oliver won his first national title in the 60 m hurdles. At the

2008 IAAF World Indoor Championships The 2008 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics were held at the Luis Puig Palace in Valencia, Spain, March 7–9, 2008. Bid Valencia was announced the winning bidder by the IAAF on November 13, 2005 at an IAAF Council meeting in Moscow, Rus ...

, he was knocked out in the semi-finals stage. Later in the year, he ran a personal best of 12.95 seconds at the Qatar Grand Prix. He ran a wind-assisted 12.89 seconds in the semi-finals of the United States Olympic Trials and went on to beat Olympic and world silver medalist Terrence Trammell in the final with another windy run of 12.95 seconds. Oliver went on to claim the

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receives ...

in the 110 m hurdles at the

2008 Beijing 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 ...

, finishing behind

Dayron Robles Dayron Robles (born 19 November 1986) is a Cuban track and field athlete who specialises in the 110 metre hurdles. He won his first major medal (a silver) in the 60 metres hurdles at the 2006 World Indoor Championships. He finished the 2006 seas ...

who set an

Olympic record Olympic records are the best performances in a specific event in that event's history in either the Summer Olympic Games or the Winter Olympic Games. Summer Olympics * Archery at the Summer Olympics, Archery (List of Olympic records in archery, li ...

and compatriot David Payne. He closed the year with victories at the ISTAF meet in Berlin and at the 2008 IAAF World Athletics Final. He was the second fastest 110 m hurdler of 2008. The 2009 season started promisingly for Oliver, as he recorded 13.09 seconds for his third win in Qatar, but a calf strain resulted in him missing the US Outdoor Championships, and thus the opportunity to qualify for 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 ...

. Oliver started the 2010 outdoor season with four straight wins over other competitors, among them victories at the Ponce Grand Prix, and the Colorful Daegu Pre-Championships Meeting over Dayron Robles. He scored his first

IAAF Diamond League The Diamond League is an annual series of elite track and field athletic competitions comprising fifteen invitational athletics meetings. The series sits in the top tier of the World Athletics one-day meet competitions. The inaugural season was ...

win at the

Shanghai Golden Grand Prix The Shanghai Diamond League is an annual athletics event at the Shanghai Stadium in Shanghai, China, as part of the Diamond League. The meeting was founded as the Shanghai Golden Grand Prix in 2005. The meet assumed its current name in 2010. Fr ...

in May, beating home favorite Liu Xiang with a meeting record of 12.99 seconds. The following month he set a new personal best of 12.93 seconds to win his second national title at the USA Championships. Oliver improved on his personal best in the 110 m hurdles on July 3, 2010, with a time of 12.90 seconds, equalling the area and national record held by Dominique Arnold. On July 16, 2010, Oliver ran 12.89 for the 110 m hurdles, which was the third fastest time ever at that point (after

and Liu Xiang). Additionally, he moved up to number six on the all-time lists in the 60 m hurdles with a win at the Sparkassen Cup, where his personal best of 7.37 seconds also brought him his first ever indoor victory over Dayron Robles. By the time 2010 came to an end, Oliver was unbeaten in 15 finals races and held the top five times and eight of the top nine times in the world.

2011 saw Oliver, during the outdoor season, win another U.S. Championship title and run under the 13 second barrier again. Indoor he produced his career best 7.37, just 0.01 off the American record. He finished the season ranked #3 in the world. 2013, Oliver was able to bounce back from back to back injury plagued seasons and he was able to win his first global title, winning the World Championships in 13.00 in Moscow, Russia. He also won his second IAAF Diamond League title.

Retirement from Athletics

At the end of the 2017 season, Oliver announced his retirement from athletics. He was subsequently appointed head of the track and field program at his alma mater,

Personal life

His mother, Brenda Chambers, also competed in

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 ...

in the 400 m hurdles event. He graduated from Denver East High School in

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

, in 2000. He lives in Kissimmee,

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

and is trained by Aubrey Herring. He as well was formally coached by Brooks Johnson. He graduated from Howard University in 2004 with a

Bachelor of Business Administration A Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) is an undergraduate degree in business administration awarded by colleges and universities after completion of four years and typically 120 credits of undergraduate study in the fundamentals of busine ...

Marketing Marketing is the act of acquiring, satisfying and retaining customers. It is one of the primary components of Business administration, business management and commerce. Marketing is usually conducted by the seller, typically a retailer or ma ...

. Oliver is also a supporter of English football team Arsenal Football Club.

Personal bests

Competition record

*National outdoor championships – Winner: 2008, 2010, 2011, 2015. Runner-up: 2013 *National indoor championships – Winner: 2008. Runner-up: 2010.

Rankings

Oliver was ranked among the best in the US and the world in the 110 m hurdles from 2005 to 2016, according to the votes of the experts of ''

Track and Field News ''Track & Field News'' is an American monthly sports magazine founded in 1948 by brothers Bert Nelson and Cordner Nelson, focused on the world of track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includ ...

''.

Achievements and Accolades

In 2014, Oliver was elected to the Howard University Hall of Fame.

References

External links

* * * * * *
Stuttgart 2006 was David Oliver's 'step forward'
– article from

IAAF World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation and International Association of Athletics Federations and formerly abbreviated as the IAAF, is the international sports governing body, governing body for the sport ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oliver, David 1982 births Living people American male hurdlers African-American track and field athletes Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in track and field Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Howard Bison men's track and field athletes Howard Bison football players World Athletics Championships athletes for the United States World Athletics Championships medalists Track and field athletes from Denver Diamond League winners USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners IAAF Continental Cup winners World Athletics Championships winners Athletes (track and field) at the 2015 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2015 Pan American Games Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States in athletics (track and field) 21st-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century African-American sportsmen East High School (Denver, Colorado) alumni 21st-century American sportsmen