David Patrick (born June 12, 1960, in

Centralia, Illinois Centralia is a city in Clinton, Jefferson, Marion, and Washington counties in the U.S. state of Illinois with the largest portion in Marion County. The city is the largest in three counties, Clinton, Marion, and Washington, but it is not a ...

) is a retired American hurdler. He ran the

400 metres hurdles The 400 metres hurdles is a track and field hurdling event. The event has been on the Summer Olympics, Olympic Sport of athletics, athletics programme since 1900 Summer Olympics, 1900 for men and since 1984 Summer Olympics, 1984 for women. On a ...

in the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics (, ), officially the Games of the XXV Olympiad (, ) and officially branded as Barcelona '92, were an international multi-sport event held from 25 July to 9 August 1992 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Beginning in 1994 ...

and was the second American in the final. The race was won by Kevin Young while setting the still standing current

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organizatio ...

in the event. Patrick won two individual NCAA titles (880 yards indoor, 400 meter hurdles) while competing for the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee, Knoxville (or The University of Tennessee; UT; UT Knoxville; or colloquially UTK or Tennessee) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee, United St ...

. Patrick is the husband of Sandra Farmer-Patrick, who was also an elite 400 metres hurdler. The two had a history of success at the same meets, including the

1989 IAAF World Cup The 5th IAAF World Cup in Athletics was an international track and field sporting event sponsored by the International Association of Athletics Federations, held on September 8–10, 1989, at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys in Barcelona, Spain. ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

, Spain where both took the gold medal. It was the first time a husband and wife won a gold medal in the same event in international championship. Earlier that year, they had become the first husband and wife to both win national championships at the same time since

Hal Connolly Harold Vincent "Hal" Connolly (August 1, 1931 – August 18, 2010) was an American athlete and hammer thrower from Somerville, Massachusetts. He won a gold medal in the hammer throw at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne. Connolly became the f ...

and Olga Connolly did the same thing 29 years earlier. The couple were exorcising frustration at the 1988 U.S. Olympic Trials when both failed to qualify. He was the bronze medallist at the

1988 IAAF Grand Prix Final The 1988 IAAF Grand Prix Final was the fourth edition of the season-ending competition for the IAAF Grand Prix track and field circuit, organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations. It was held on 26 August at the Olympias ...

that year. David set his personal record in the 400 hurdles at 47.75 while finishing fourth behind eventual Olympic Champion

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 ...

, the legend of the event

Edwin Moses Edwin Corley Moses (born August 31, 1955) is an Americans, American former Hurdling, hurdler who won gold medals in the 400 metres hurdles, 400 m hurdles at the 1976 Summer Olympics, 1976 and 1984 Summer Olympics, 1984 Olympics. Between 1977 an ...

and future world record holder Kevin Young (with 1984 Silver Medalist Danny Harris, one one-hundredth of a second behind Patrick). Running in the difficult lane one, Patrick was behind off the final turn but made an impressive surge at the end of the race to miss making the team by 0.03. His time makes him still the 22nd best performer in the event. That year, wife Sandra was disqualified after winning her semi-final. David had also attempted to qualify in the

800 metres The 800 metres, or 800 meters (American and British English spelling differences#-re.2C -er, US spelling), is a common track running event. It is the shortest commonly run middle-distance running event. The 800 metres is run over two laps of a ...

in 1988. In 1992, both made the Olympic team with David finishing second just behind Kevin Young and Sandra winning the Olympic Trials. Sandra won a silver medal in the event at the Olympics in 1992 and again made the team in 1996. David Patrick was ranked in the top 10 Americans from 1981 to 1994, except in 1982 and was in the top 5 through most of that from 1983 to 1993 when the United States was dominating the event with Moses, Phillips, Harris and Young being the best in the world. He should not be confused with another David Patrick, from Villanova, who ran the

1500 metres The 1500 metres or 1500-metre run is the foremost middle distance track event in athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Championships in Athletics since 1983. It is equivalent to 1.5 kilomet ...

in the 1968 Olympic Trials.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Patrick, David 1960 births Living people American male hurdlers African-American track and field athletes Olympic track and field athletes for the United States Athletes (track and field) at the 1988 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1992 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Centralia, Illinois Track and field athletes from Illinois Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) FISU World University Games gold medalists for the United States Competitors at the 1986 Goodwill Games Competitors at the 1990 Goodwill Games Goodwill Games medalists in athletics Athletes (track and field) at the 1987 Pan American Games Medalists at the 1987 Pan American Games Pan American Games bronze medalists for the United States in athletics (track and field) 21st-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century African-American sportsmen NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners Tennessee Volunteers men's track and field athletes NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships winners