Sheila Ann Echols (born October 2, 1964) is a retired

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 from the United States who competed in the

100 metres 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 ...

and the

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

. She won a gold medal at the 1988 Olympic Games in the 4 × 100 m relay. She also won the 1989 IAAF World Cup 100 m title.

Career

Echols was born in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. Situated along the Mississippi River, it had a population of 633,104 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Tenne ...

, USA. At the 1988 Olympic Games in

Seoul, South Korea 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 ...

, she won a gold medal in the 4 × 100 metres relay, alongside teammates Alice Brown, 100 m gold medalist Florence Griffith Joyner and 100 m silver medalist Evelyn Ashford. They ran 41.98 seconds. She was also an international long jumper and competed in that event at two Olympics. In Seoul, she failed to qualify for the final, placing 16th with a jump of 6.37m. In 1992, at the Olympic Games in Barcelona, she placed 7th in the final with a jump of 6.62m. She won a silver medal in the sprint relay at the 1993 World Championships, where she ran in the heats but not the final. Her biggest individual success came when she won the 1989 World Cup 100 metres title ahead of Mary Onyali and Reigning World Champion Silke Gladisch-Moller. Her 100 metres personal best of 10.83 was achieved at the 1988 US Olympic Trials. Echols ran track collegiately at

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

Personal bests

* Long jump — 6.94 m (1987) * 100 metres — 10.83 (1988)

References

* 1964 births Living people American female sprinters American female long jumpers Athletes (track and field) at the 1988 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1992 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the United States in track and field Sportspeople from Memphis, Tennessee Track and field athletes from Tennessee LSU Lady Tigers track and field athletes Medalists at the 1988 Summer Olympics World Athletics Championships medalists USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners 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 gold medalists for the United States in athletics (track and field) NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners 20th-century American sportswomen {{US-athletics-Olympic-medalist-stub