Randy Lavelle Williams (born August 23, 1953) is an American athlete.

Education

In high school, Williams attended Edison High School in Fresno, California. He then attended the University of Southern California.USC OLYMPIANS: 1904–2004
USC Trojans Athletic Department, Accessed August 13, 2008.

Competition

At the

CIF California State Meet The CIF California State Meet is the annual championship track and field meet for the California Interscholastic Federation. The meet was started in 1915 for boys and 1974 for girls. Every athlete in every high school in California has a direc ...

in 1969 he finished third, behind future rival

James McAlister James Edward McAlister (September 5, 1951 – March 31, 2018) was an American football running back in the National Football League (NFL) during the 1970s. He was drafted by the Oakland Raiders in the sixth round of the 1974 NFL Draft. He played ...

, in 1970 he finished second behind future

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...

star, Lynn Swann and in 1971, he won the meet in what would have clearly been a meet record, had it not been wind aided. Williams won the sprints at the 1987 Masters West Region Championship.

Olympics

Williams mainly competed in the long jump, in which he won a gold medal at the 1972 Olympics and a silver medal in 1976. His 1972 winning jump of 8.34 m (27–4½) set the world junior record that stood for almost 40 years until it was improved by 1 cm by Sergey Morgunov on June 20, 2012. At the time it was the longest standing record on the books. Williams qualified for the 1980 U.S. Olympic team but was unable to compete due to the

1980 Summer Olympics boycott The 1980 Summer Olympics boycott was one part of a number of actions initiated by the United States to protest against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The Soviet Union, which hosted the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, and its allies later ...

. In 2007 he did receive one of 461 Congressional Gold Medals created especially for the spurned athletes.

Hall of Fame

In 2009, Williams was inducted into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame.

References

1953 births American male long jumpers Olympic gold medalists for the United States in track and field Olympic silver medalists for the United States in track and field Athletes (track and field) at the 1972 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1976 Summer Olympics University of Southern California alumni Sportspeople from Fresno, California Living people Track and field athletes from California Medalists at the 1976 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1972 Summer Olympics American masters athletes {{US-athletics-Olympic-medalist-stub