Joseph ("Joe") Nathaniel DeLoach (born June 5, 1967) is an American former sprinter who was the 1988

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece bet ...

champion in the

200 m The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a Sprint (running), sprint running event. On an outdoor 400-metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run th ...

. Born in

Bay City, Texas Bay City is a city and the county seat of Matagorda County, Texas, United States. The population was 17,614 at the 2010 census and 18,061 at the 2020 census. Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of ...

into a family with 11 sisters and one brother, DeLoach enjoyed running at a young age and desired to become a

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player, but later set his mind to sprinting. He trained at the

University of Houston The University of Houston (; ) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas, United States. It was established in 1927 as Houston Junior College, a coeducational institution and one of multiple junior colleges formed in ...

, like

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. Lewis was a dominant sprinter and lo ...

before him. During his career, DeLoach took part in one Olympiad, 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 ...

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. He won the 200 m (beating his teammate from the

Santa Monica Track Club The Santa Monica Track Club (also known as SMTC) was formed by Joe Douglas as a post-collegiate track club. By the 1980s, the team came to be a major player in worldwide Track and Field competition, with team members setting numerous World and Nat ...

, Carl Lewis, while placing fifth in the

100 m The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been contested at ...

). The first performance was enough to qualify for the Games. There, he and Lewis were the favorites. In the final, DeLoach caught Lewis and finished in the Olympic record time of 19.75 s. This performance marked the only time Carl Lewis was defeated in an individual Olympic final and as of 10 September 2024 it remains the track record for

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

. In 2003, Dr. Wade Exum, the

United States Olympic Committee The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) is the National Olympic Committee (NOC) and the National Paralympic Committee (NPC) for the United States. It was founded in 1895 and is headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colorado ...

's director of drug control administration from 1991 to 2000, gave copies of documents to ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with a circulation of over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellen ...

'' which revealed that some 100 American athletes, including DeLoach, had tested positive for drugs between 1988 and 2000. The

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 ...

investigated the allegations, and announced that the dosages were in low concentration and no rules had been broken.USOC's Actions on Lewis Justified by IAAF
Alan Abrahamson,

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

, May 1, 2003

References

External links

Joe Deloach at Olympics.com
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Deloach, Joe 1967 births Living people American male sprinters Athletes (track and field) at the 1988 Summer Olympics Track and field athletes from Texas Sportspeople from Bay City, Texas Houston Cougars men's track and field athletes Medalists at the 1988 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the United States in track and field NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners 20th-century American sportsmen