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Mal Whitfield

Malvin Greston "Mal" Whitfield (born October 11, 1924) is a former American athlete, a double winner of 800 m at the Olympic Games.

Born in Bay City, Texas, Mal Whitfield, or Marvelous Mal as he was called, joined the United States Air Force in 1943. After World War II, he remained in the air force but also enrolled at Ohio State University. In the early 1950s he also served in the air force during the Korean War.

At the 1948 Olympics in London, Whitfield won the 800 m and was a member of the winning 4 × 400 m relay team. He also earned a bronze medal in the 400 m.

He won the NCAA title in the 800 m in 1948 and 880 yd in 1949 and the AAU title from 1949 to 1951 at 800 m, in 1953 and 1954 at 880 yd and in 1952 at 400 m. He also won the 800 m at the 1951 Pan American Games in Buenos Aires, Argentina. At the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, Finland, he repeated his 800 m victory. He also earned a silver medal as a member of U.S 4 × 400 m relay team. He set a world record in 880 yd of 1:49.2 in 1950 and dropped it to 1:48.6 in 1952.

In 1954 Whitfield won the James E. Sullivan Memorial Award , given annually by the Amateur Athletic Union of the United States (AAU) to the outstanding amateur athlete in the country. He was the first black athlete to win the award. Whitfield narrowly missed making the 1956 Olympic team while a student at California State University, Los Angeles and he retired from track competition shortly thereafter. After graduating he worked for the U.S. State Department, conducting sports clinics in Africa. He later ran a training camp for runners in Ethiopia.


Olympic medalists in athletics (men) | Olympic Champions in Men's 800 m

Teddy Flack | Alfred Tysoe | Jim Lightbody | Paul Pilgrim | Mel Sheppard | Ted Meredith | Albert Hill | Douglas Lowe (twice) | Thomas Hampson | John Woodruff | Mal Whitfield (twice) | Tom Courtney | Peter Snell (twice) | Ralph Doubell | Dave Wottle | Alberto Juantorena | Steve Ovett | Joaquim Cruz | Paul Ereng | William Tanui | Vebjørn Rodal | Nils Schumann | Yuriy Borzakovskiy



Olympic medalists in athletics (men) | Olympic Champions in Men's 4x400 m relay


1912 United States Mel Sheppard, Edward Lindberg , Ted Meredith, Charles Reidpath
1920 Great Britain Cecil Griffiths , Robert Lindsay, John Ainsworth-Davies , Guy Butler
1924 United States Commodore Cochran , Alan Helffrich , Oliver MacDonald , William Stevenson
1928 United States George Baird , Emerson Spencer , Frederick Alderman , Ray Barbuti
1932 United States Ivan Fuqua , Edgar Ablowich , Karl Warner , Bill Carr
1936 Great Britain Frederick Wolff , Godfrey Rampling , William Roberts, Godfrey Brown
1948 United States Arthur Harnden , Clifford Bourland , Roy Cochran, Mal Whitfield
1952 Jamaica Arthur Wint, Leslie Laing , Herb McKenley , George Rhoden
1956 United States Charlie Jenkins, Louis Jones , James Mashburn , Tom Courtney
1960 United States Jack Yerman , Earl Young , Glenn Davis, Otis Davis
1964 United States Ollan Cassell , Michael Larrabee, Ulis Williams , Henry Carr
1968 United States Vincent Matthews, Ron Freeman , Larry James , Lee Evans
1972 Kenya Charles Asati , Hezahiah Nyamau , Robert Ouko , Julius Sang

1976 United States Herman Frazier , Benjamin Brown , Fred Newhouse , Maxie Parks
1980 Soviet Union Remigijus Valiulis , Mikhail Linge , Nikolay Chernetsky , Viktor Markin
1984 United States Sunder Nix , Ray Armstead , Alonzo Babers, Antonio McKay
1988 United States Danny Everett , Steve Lewis, Kevin Robinzine , Butch Reynolds
1992 United States Andrew Valmon , Quincy Watts, Michael Johnson, Steve Lewis
1996 United States LaMont Smith , Alvin Harrison , Derek Mills , Anthuan Maybank
2000 United States Alvin Harrison , Antonio Pettigrew , Calvin Harrison , Michael Johnson
2004 United States Otis Harris, Derrick Brew , Jeremy Wariner, Darold Williamson


Last updated: 11-08-2004 11:09:10