Walter Dix (born January 31, 1986) is a retired American sprinter who specialized in the 100 meters and 200 meters. He is the seventh-fastest 200-meter runner ever with a best of 19.53 seconds, and has broken the 10-second barrier in the 100 meters, with a best of 9.88 (9.80w) seconds. He was the only track athlete from USA to win 2 individual Olympic medals in Beijing. Dix was a highly successful amateur athlete, setting a state record in the 100 m and trying out for the US Olympic Team at the age of eighteen. He joined

Florida State University Florida State University (FSU or Florida State) is a Public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preeminent university in the s ...

and in his first year he broke the 100 m American junior record and won at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. After a fourth-place finish at the 2005 US Championships, Dix continued with his collegiate success, setting an

NCAA 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. ...

record of 19.69 seconds in the 200 m and coming within one hundredth of the 100 m record. He completed a 100 m, 200 m, and 4×100 meter relay sweep at the 2007 NCAA Outdoor Championships, the first to do so since John Carlos in 1969. He closed his amateur career in 2008: another NCAA 200 m title made him the third most decorated track athlete in NCAA history, and he won gold and silver at the 2008 US Olympic Trials. Dix turned professional in mid-2008, signing a multimillion-dollar contract with Nike. He reached the Olympic finals in the 100 and 200 m, and won two bronze medals; the only American track athlete to win two individual medals at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

. He suffered an injury at the 2009 US Championships, thus missing out on the World Championships, and a contract dispute with his agent resulted in only a handful of appearances that season. In 2011 he was both the 100 and 200 m American champion and won silver medals in the events at the 2011 World Championships. An injury at the 2012 Olympic trials meant he missed a second Olympic appearance.

Early life

The son of a

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 ...

coach, Walter Dix competed at athletics meetings from a young age, specialising in sprinting 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 ...

. His speed also translated well to the

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

field, and he often played the sport at school. Dix was an accomplished

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

runner: in his final year at Coral Springs High School in 2004 he recorded 10.28 seconds in the 100 meters, then third all-time on the Florida high school record list behind only Houston McTear and Curtis Johnson, and broke the 200 meters Florida high school record with 20.62 seconds. Aside from J-Mee Samuels' 10.28 seconds in the 100 m, these were the two fastest marks by a high school athlete that year. Both these times were within the Olympic standard for the events. He competed at the US Olympic Trials in the 200 m, but did not progress beyond the heats stage.USATF Profile: Walter Dix
USATF. Retrieved on 2009-09-19.

College track athletics

He began attending

(FSU) in late 2004, working with coach Bob Braman. At his first regional meeting for the university, he won the 60-meter dash, 200 m and 4×400 meter relay, and was chosen as the

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, the ACC's eighteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athlet ...

rookie of the year. He made his first major impact at the NCAA Indoor Championships: after a sixth-place finish in the 60 m, he came second in the 200 m with a world junior record of 20.37 s, beaten only by Wallace Spearmon. Following this, he became

USA Track & Field USA Track & Field (USATF) is a United States national governing body for the sports of track and field, cross country running, road running, and racewalking (known as the sport of athletics outside the US). The USATF was known between 1979 and 1 ...

's Athlete of the Week after setting an American junior record in the 100 m. Running in the Icahn Stadium at the 2005 NCAA East Regional Championships, his heat-winning time of 10.06 seconds bettered Stanley Floyd's 25-year-old mark. Dix went on to win the 100 m final and also won the 200 m in 20.23 seconds, the fourth fastest time by an American junior sprinter. At his first NCAA Outdoor Championships, Dix became FSU's first winner at the championships since 1980, and the first to do so as a

freshman A freshman, fresher, first year, or colloquially frosh, is a person in the first year at an educational institution, usually a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational in ...

. He won the 100 m in 10.21 seconds, beating the defending NCAA champions DaBryan Blanton and

Tyson Gay Tyson Gay (born August 9, 1982) is a retired American track and field sprint (running), sprinter who competed in the 100 metres, 100 and 200 metres, 200 meters. His 100 m personal best of 9.69 seconds is the United States records in track ...

to the title. After recording a personal best of 20.18 seconds in the semifinals, he managed a fourth-place finish in the 200 m race. Dix competed at his first US senior championships that year and, as the only amateur to reach the 100 m final, he finished fourth. The only athletes to beat him were Leonard Scott, reigning Olympic Champion Shawn Crawford and the eventual world champion Justin Gatlin.

Multiple NCAA champion

Dix's second year at FSU was characterised by success in the 200 m. He won his first indoor NCAA title in the 200 m and was runner-up in the 60 m, having set a personal best of 6.59 seconds in the heats.Florida State University Profile: Walter Dix
.

Florida State Seminoles The Florida State Seminoles are the athletic teams representing Florida State University (FSU) located in Tallahassee, Florida. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I, prima ...

. Retrieved on 2009-09-19. His time of 20.27 seconds in the 200 m final was the fastest indoor run in the world that year. His fastest of the season came at the Reebok invitational and his time of 20.25 seconds placed him as the 13th fastest runner in 2006. He completed a 200 m NCAA Championship double by taking the outdoor title, and he also finished as runner-up in the 100 m, second to Xavier Carter. In his third year as an FSU athlete he won four

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athlet ...

titles, starting with a 200 m win indoors. In the 2007 NCAA East Regional final, he won the 100 m dash in 10.05 seconds. His performance in the 200 m was more impressive however: he set the all-time collegiate record of 19.69 seconds in the 200 m, breaking Joe DeLoach's record that had stood since 1988. This made him the sixth fastest 200 m runner ever and it was the seventh fastest run in history at the time. At the NCAA Outdoor Championships that year, he won three separate national titles, beating all opposition in the 100 m, 200 m, and 4×100 meter relay races. This achievement made him the first man to win the three races at an NCAA Championships since John Carlos did so in 1969. Dix's time of 9.93 seconds in the 100 m was a world-leader at that point of the season, and was just 0.01 behind Ato Boldon's NCAA record. For these accomplishments, he was again named USATF's Athlete of the Week. In his final year as an amateur athlete, he spent much of early 2008 battling a

hamstring A hamstring () is any one of the three posterior thigh muscles in human anatomy between the hip and the knee: from medial to lateral, the semimembranosus, semitendinosus and biceps femoris. Etymology The word " ham" is derived from the Old ...

injury.Shain, Jeff (2008)
Florida sprinter Walter Dix is the new face of track and field

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. Retrieved on 2009-09-19. However, he returned in April to win his third 200 m NCAA outdoor title, while placing fourth in the 100 m. Although his personal bests rivalled those of top professional athletes, Dix decided to finish his degree in

social science Social science (often rendered in the plural as the social sciences) is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among members within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the ...

at FSU, as his graduation in May 2008 allowed him to focus on the Olympic Trials thereafter. Over the course of his college career, Dix became only the second athlete to win three NCAA 200 m outdoor titles (after Ralph Metcalfe) and, with six outdoor NCAA titles, he is listed as the joint third on all-time list. Furthermore, he finished with two indoor titles and 18

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

n honors.

Professional career

2008 Olympic Games

Competing at the 2008 US Olympic Trials in

Eugene, Oregon Eugene ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lane County, Oregon, United States. It is located at the southern end of the Willamette Valley, near the confluence of the McKenzie River (Oregon), McKenzie and Willamette River, Willamette rivers, ...

, Dix qualified for the

in both the 100 and 200 m events. After recording a personal-best-equaling 9.93 seconds in the 100 m semifinals, he took second place behind

with a wind-assisted 9.80 seconds. He stated that his NCAA experience had helped raise his confidence and that he was less nervous than he was at the 2005 US Championships. The 200 m favorite Gay suffered an injury in the qualifying rounds, and Dix and Crawford both finished the 200 m final with 19.86 seconds, with Dix elected the winner by a

photo finish A photo finish occurs in a sporting race when multiple competitors cross the finishing line at nearly the same time. As the naked eye may not be able to determine which of the competitors crossed the line first, a photo or video taken at the fini ...

. After signing a sponsorship deal with Nike worth around $1,000,000 a year, described by his agent as "the largest deal ever for a track athlete just coming out of college", Dix stated that his aims for the Olympics were personal bests in the individual sprints and a gold in the

relay race A relay race is a racing competition where members of a team take turns completing parts of racecourse or performing a certain action. Relay races take the form of professional races and amateur games. Relay races are common in running, oriente ...

Competing in his first Olympics, Dix qualified for the 100 m final with a season's best of 9.95 seconds. In the final he registered a personal best of 9.91 seconds, finishing behind new world record holder

Usain Bolt Usain St. Leo Bolt (; born 21 August 1986) is a Jamaican retired sprinter who is widely regarded as the greatest sprinter of all time. He is an eight-time Olympic gold medalist and the world record holder in the 100 metres, 200 metres, ...

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

and Richard Thompson of

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago, officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean, comprising the main islands of Trinidad and Tobago, along with several List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, smaller i ...

. The Olympic bronze medal was Dix's first medal at a major international competition. A few days later, he finished fifth in the 200 m final with a time of 19.98 seconds, some distance off the winner

who had broken the

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organizatio ...

. However, it transpired that both the silver and bronze medalists ( Churandy Martina of the

Netherlands Antilles The Netherlands Antilles (, ; ), also known as the Dutch Antilles, was a constituent Caribbean country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands consisting of the islands of Saba (island), Saba, Sint Eustatius, and Sint Maarten in the Lesser Antilles, ...

and American Wallace Spearmon) had stepped out of their lanes thus they were disqualified. As a result, Dix received his second Olympic bronze medal. Further disqualifications occurred in the heats of the Olympic 4×100 meter relay race: Darvis Patton and Tyson Gay misjudged a baton pass, causing the American team to be eliminated and spoiling any chance of Dix receiving a relay medal. He finished the Olympics as the only American sprinter to medal in two individual events. Dix closed the season with two sub-10 second runs at the Weltklasse and Athletissima meetings, finishing second to a Jamaican on both occasions (Bolt and Asafa Powell).

Low-key 2009

The year after the Olympics, Dix began the season with a world-leading time of 10.00 seconds in Tallahassee in April. He also set a world-leading relay time of 37.92 seconds with Travis Padgett, Shawn Crawford and Darvis Patton at the

Penn Relays The Penn Relays (officially The Penn Relay Carnival) is the oldest and largest track and field competition in the United States, hosted annually since April 21, 1895 by the University of Pennsylvania at Franklin Field in Philadelphia. In 2012 ...

. However, he failed to maintain this strong form through the rest of 2009. Coach Teddy Long planned to improve Dix's start and acceleration in his races, but the two parted company in April.Graham, Pat (2009-06-27)
The curious case of American sprinter Walter Dix
''

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'' ( AP). Retrieved on 2009-09-18. He placed third behind Michael Rodgers and Asafa Powell at the Prefontaine Classic but, unusually, this proved to one of the highlights of a low-profile year for Dix. He competed at the US Championships, but injuries forced him out of both the 100 m and 200 m races and he did not qualify for the World Championships. Furthermore, he entered a legal battle with his management company, regarding whether they merited the 20% portion of his multimillion-dollar sponsorship contract with Nike. The dispute with his agent Kimberly Holland was resolved in July: although the terms were undisclosed, Dix left Holland's Icon Management and decided to be his own agent. With his father as his coach, a legal battle and no major races to prepare for, Dix ran only a handful of local meetings in the rest of 2009.

Return to top level

Dix returned to national competition with an appearance at the 2010 USA Indoor Track and Field Championships. He took fourth place in the final and set a new 60 m indoor best of 6.58 seconds. Event winner Ivory Williams was disqualified after testing positive for

marijuana Cannabis (), commonly known as marijuana (), weed, pot, and ganja, List of slang names for cannabis, among other names, is a non-chemically uniform psychoactive drug from the ''Cannabis'' plant. Native to Central or South Asia, cannabis has ...

and Dix was upgraded to third. He opened his outdoor season at the Seminole Twilight meet in May, recording 9.98 seconds in the 100 m and 19.89 seconds for the 200 m. He began to participate in

Diamond League The Diamond League is an annual series of elite track and field athletic competitions comprising fifteen invitational athletics meetings. The series sits in the top tier of the World Athletics one-day meet competitions. The inaugural season was ...

meetings, competing on the European circuit for the first time. He beat Wallace Spearmon at the

Golden Gala Golden Gala is an annual Track and field, track and field event normally held at the Stadio Olimpico, Olympic Stadium in Rome, Italy. Previously one of the IAAF Golden League events, it is now part of the Diamond League. Following the 2013 deat ...

's 200 m race, breaking Michael Johnson's meet record. He also took to the national stage, winning the 100 m and finishing as the 200 m runner-up at the 2010 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. A week later, Dix beat Tyson Gay at the Prefontaine Classic for another meet record of 19.72 seconds. In August at a meet in Nottwil, Switzerland, Dix ran a new personal best of 9.88 seconds, finishing second behind Nesta Carter who also set a new personal best of 9.86 seconds. An injury at the

London Grand Prix The London Athletics Meet, formerly known as the London Grand Prix and subsequently as the Anniversary Games and London Diamond League, is an annual athletics event held in London, England. Previously one of the five IAAF Super Grand Prix even ...

brought an end to his season. In the first meeting of the 2011 IAAF Diamond League, at the Qatar Athletic Super Grand Prix, he won the 200 m with a time of 20.06 seconds. Dix took further 200 m victories at the Eugene and London legs of the series, while Usain Bolt won the other three 200 m mid-season legs. He achieved a 100/200 sprint double at the 2011 USA Track and Field Championships, winning in the absence of Tyson Gay and Wallace Spearmon. Running in both the events at the

2011 World Championships in Athletics The 13th IAAF World Championships in Athletics () was an international athletics competition that was held in Daegu, South Korea. It started on 27 August 2011 and finished on 4 September 2011. The United States topped the medal standings in the ...

, he first secured the silver medal in the 100 m final – defending champion Bolt was disqualified for a false start and Dix was runner-up to another Jamaican,

Yohan Blake Yohan Blake (born 26 December 1989) is a Jamaican sprinter specialising in the 100 metres, 100-metre and 200 metres, 200-metre sprint races. He won gold at the 100 m at the 2011 World Athletics Championships as the youngest 100 m world champion ...

, in a comparatively slow 10.08 seconds. In the 200-meter final Bolt beat the field but Dix was the closest to him, running 19.70 seconds to take his second silver of the tournament. He attempted to gain a third medal in the 4 × 100 metres relay final, but a mid-race collision between Darvis Patton and Britain's

Harry Aikines-Aryeetey Harry Leslie Aikines-Aryeetey (born 29 August 1988) is an English former Commonwealth sprinter and television personality, known for appearing as "Nitro" in the BBC sports endurance competition series '' Gladiators''. He has also taken part in ...

meant the American team's baton never reached Dix's final leg. At the Diamond League 200 m final at the Memorial Van Damme he ran a personal best of 19.53 seconds. Blake was even faster (19.26), however, leaving Dix in second place even as he became the fourth fastest 200 m runner of all-time and then won the league series. He moved to Southern Ireland in 2012 to train with John Smith and opened his outdoor season with a wind-aided run of 9.85 seconds. A 200 m win followed at the Doha

meet. He entered the 2012 US Olympic Trials and reached the 100 m final but, having pulled a muscle in his semi-final, he finished last in the race. This brought an end to his season.

Personal life

Walter Dix is the son of Washington and Plinnie Dix. His father, a former sprinter, is an assistant principal and track coach at New River Middle School, while his mother is a high school teacher. He has two older brothers, Alex and William, who also were track runners.Robb, Sharon (2008-08-06)
Walter Dix inspired by Jesse Owens at Olympics
. ''

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''. Retrieved on 2009-09-19. While attending

, Dix became a member of the

Phi Beta Sigma Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. () is a historically African American fraternity. It was founded at Howard University in Washington, D.C. in 1914. The fraternity's founders, A. Langston Taylor, Leonard F. Morse, and Charles I. Brown, wanted to ...

fraternity A fraternity (; whence, "wikt:brotherhood, brotherhood") or fraternal organization is an organization, society, club (organization), club or fraternal order traditionally of men but also women associated together for various religious or secular ...

.Notable Sigmas – Sports

. Retrieved on 2009-09-19.

Personal bests

, Dix's best in the 200 m outdoors makes him the seventh fastest man of all time, while his indoor best for the distance makes him the twenty-third fastest. His best in the 100 m is the seventeenth fastest by an American athlete.100 Metres All Time

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 ...

(2009-09-16). Retrieved on 2009-09-19. * All information from IAAF Profile

Track records

As of 22 September 2024, Dix holds the following track records for 100 metres and 200 metres.

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 ...

200 metres The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a 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 the race. A slight ...

Major competition record

Circuit wins and national titles

(200 m) **Overall winner:

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** Eugene:

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2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

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* U.S. Championships **100 m:

**200 m:

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

, 2011 * NCAA Division I Championships ** 100 m:

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

** 200 m:

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

, 2007,

** 4×100 m relay: 2007 * NCAA Division I Indoor Championships ** 200 m:

References

External links

* *
Walter Dix
at

DyeStat DyeStat was a website self-described as "The Internet Home of High School Track & Field". It was founded in 1998 by John Dye, and featured his wife (Donna Dye) as the features editor, senior editor Steve Underwood, assistant editor Dave Devine, tw ...

Walter Dix
at

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dix, Walter 1986 births Living people Sportspeople from Coral Springs, Florida Track and field athletes from Florida American male sprinters Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in track and field Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics World Athletics Championships athletes for the United States World Athletics Championships medalists Coral Springs High School alumni Florida State University alumni United States collegiate record holders in athletics (track and field) Diamond League winners USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners Florida State Seminoles men's track and field athletes American masters athletes NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships winners 21st-century American sportsmen