Dennis Allen Mitchell (born February 20, 1966) is an American former college and international

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 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 ...

, who was a member of 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 ...

-winning team in the

4 × 100 metres relay The 4 × 100 metres relay or sprint relay is an athletics track event run in lanes over one lap of the track with four runners completing 100 metres each. The first runners must begin in the same stagger as for the indiv ...

race at 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 ...

Athletics career

Mitchell was born in

Havelock, North Carolina Havelock is a city in Craven County, North Carolina, Craven County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 20,735 at the 2010 United States census, 2010 census. The city is home to Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, the world's lar ...

. Raised in Winslow Township, New Jersey, he graduated in 1984 from Edgewood Regional High School. He received an athletic scholarship to attend the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preem ...

in Gainesville, Florida, where he ran for the Florida Gators track and field team in

National Collegiate Athletic Association 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. ...

(NCAA) and

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central United States, South Central and Southeastern United States. Its 16 members in ...

(SEC) competition from 1986 to 1989. At Florida, Mitchell was coached by Joe Walker. Mitchell placed fourth in the 100 meters race at the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and officially branded as Seoul 1988 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. 159 nations were represe ...

and missed a probable gold medal in the 4 × 100 meters relay race, because the American team was disqualified in the early heats, after the baton pass between teammates Calvin Smith and Lee McNeill was completed outside the exchange zone. In 1989, Mitchell won the NCAA championships in 200 meters race, and he was inducted into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as a "Gator Great" in 2005. In 1991, just a month before 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 ...

, Mitchell set his first world record in the 4 × 100 meters relay of 37.67 at

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

. At the World Championships, Mitchell was again a member of the American 4 × 100 meters relay team, in which he set a new world record of 37.50 in the final. Mitchell also won a

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 individual 100 meters race, just 0.01 seconds shy of the world record. In 1992, Mitchell won his first United States National Championships title in the 100 meters (he repeated this victory in 1994 and 1996). At the

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 ...

Olympics The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a variety of competit ...

, Mitchell ran his third world record in 4 × 100 meters relay of 37.40 and won again a bronze medal in the 100 meters race. At the 1993 World Championships, Mitchell won his third bronze at the international championships in individual 100 meters and his third gold in relay event with a world record, as this time the American team equaled their own world record of 37.40. Mitchell won a gold medal in 100 meters at the

1994 Goodwill Games The 1994 Goodwill Games was the third edition of the multi-sport event, created by Ted Turner, which was held in Saint Petersburg, Russia between July 23 and August 7, 1994. The event – designed to improve Soviet Union – United States relatio ...

, but injured himself in the heats of 100 -meters at the 1995 World Championships. At the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

, Mitchell was fourth in 100-meters and won a

silver medal A silver medal, in sports and other similar areas involving competition, is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, ...

as a member of the second-place U.S. 4 × 100-meters relay team. His personal best for the 100 metres was 9.91 seconds, set in Tokyo on 25 August 1991 in the World Athletics Championships final.

Personal life

Mitchell is married to Damu Cherry-Mitchell, an Olympian in the 100-meter hurdles, and has four children. He coaches his own club, Star Athletics, in Montverde, Florida. He has trained world class athletes including Sha'Carri Richardson, Kenny Bednarek, Justin Gatlin, Aaron Brown, Kaylin Whitney,

Javianne Oliver Javianne Oliver (born December 26, 1994) is an American female track and field sprint (running), sprinter. Oliver finished second in the 60 meters at the 2017 NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships for the University of Kentucky. ...

, and Twanisha Terry, among others.

Doping history

In 1998, Mitchell was banned by

International Association of Athletics Federations 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 governing body for the sport of athletics, coverin ...

for two years after a test showed high levels of

testosterone Testosterone is the primary male sex hormone and androgen in Male, males. In humans, testosterone plays a key role in the development of Male reproductive system, male reproductive tissues such as testicles and prostate, as well as promoting se ...

. They did not accept his defense of "five bottles of beer and sex with his wife at least four times... it was her birthday, the lady deserved a treat." Mitchell made his final international appearance at the 2001 World Championships, where his team finished first in the 4 × 100 meters relay, but was subsequently disqualified because of BALCO scandal involvement by a teammate. On May 1, 2008, it was announced that the U.S. government, in its trial against Trevor Graham, would have Mitchell, as well as Antonio Pettigrew as witnesses, with Mitchell to testify that Graham injected him with

human growth hormone Growth hormone (GH) or somatotropin, also known as human growth hormone (hGH or HGH) in its human form, is a peptide hormone that stimulates growth, cell reproduction, and cell regeneration in humans and other animals. It is thus important in ...

References

External links

Masters T&F 100 metres Dash All-Time Rankings
10.11 (2001)

20.45 (2001) {{DEFAULTSORT:Mitchell, Dennis 1966 births Living people American male sprinters Athletes (track and field) at the 1988 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1992 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1996 Summer Olympics Doping cases in athletics Edgewood Regional High School alumni Florida Gators men's track and field athletes Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in track and field Olympic gold medalists for the United States in track and field Olympic silver medalists for the United States in track and field People from Havelock, North Carolina People from Winslow Township, New Jersey Sportspeople from Camden County, New Jersey World Athletics Championships medalists Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1992 Summer Olympics Goodwill Games medalists in athletics USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners USA Indoor Track and Field Championships winners World Athletics Championships winners Competitors at the 1998 Goodwill Games Competitors at the 1990 Goodwill Games Competitors at the 1994 Goodwill Games NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships winners Track and field athletes from North Carolina 20th-century American sportsmen

Athletics career

Personal life

Doping history

See also

References

External links