Floyd Wayne Heard (born March 24, 1966, in West Point, Mississippi) is a retired

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 eve ...

sprinter from the

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, best known for setting the 1986 world's best year performance in the men's 200 m. He did so on 7 July 1986 at a meet in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

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, clocking 20.12s. A year later he won the title in the men's 200 m at the

1987 Pan American Games The 1987 Pan American Games, officially known as the X Pan American Games, was a major international multi-sport event held in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, on August 7–23, 1987. Over 4,300 athletes from 38 countries in the Americas ...

. Heard's personal best for the 200 m was 19.88 seconds, set at the U.S. Olympic Trials in

Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

on 23 July 2000. That was the race where favorites Michael Johnson and Maurice Greene were pitted as rivals by the media. In a head-to-head battle, both

pulled up Pulled may refer * Pulled rickshaw * Pulled wool * Pulled pork * Pulled hamstring * Pulled elbow {{disambiguation ...

during the race, leaving Heard to pick up the pieces behind newcomer

John Capel John Capel Jr. (born October 27, 1978) is an American former track and field athlete who was a world champion sprinter. Capel played college football for the University of Florida, where he was also a member of the Florida Gators track and fiel ...

, at age 34 becoming the oldest sprinter to make his first American Olympic team.

Background

Heard attended John Marshall High School in

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee i ...

(graduating 1985) and Texas A&M. While at A&M, Heard worked with world-renowned conditioning coach

Istvan Javorek István Javorek (born January 6, 1943 in eastern Europe) is a United States sports conditioning coach. Coach Javorek is the retired head strength and conditioning coach at Johnson County Community College, Kansas, United States. He supervised th ...

. Floyd Heard also owns the American record as part of the Santa Monica Track Club's scorching performance of 1:18.68 in 1994 in the 4 × 200 m relay run, set at the Mt. SAC Relays. His teammates in that race were Mike Marsh, Leroy Burrell, and

Carl Lewis Frederick Carlton Lewis (born July 1, 1961) is an American former track and field athlete who won nine Olympic gold medals, one Olympic silver medal, and 10 World Championships medals, including eight gold. His career spanned from 1979 to 19 ...

References

Floyd Heard
profile at USATF
1986 Year Rankings
*

External links

10.28 (2001)

20.31 (2002)

48.03 (2002)
1966 births Living people American male sprinters People from West Point, Mississippi Track and field athletes from Milwaukee Track and field athletes from Mississippi Athletes (track and field) at the 1987 Pan American Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2000 Summer Olympics Olympic track and field athletes of the United States Pan American Games medalists in athletics (track and field) Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) Goodwill Games medalists in athletics Universiade gold medalists for the United States Medalists at the 1987 Summer Universiade Competitors at the 1986 Goodwill Games Medalists at the 1987 Pan American Games {{US-sprint-athletics-bio-stub