Chris Huffins (born 15 April 1970) is an athlete from the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

who competed in the field of

Decathlon The decathlon is a combined event in Athletics (sport), athletics consisting of ten track and field events. The word "decathlon" was formed, in analogy to the word "pentathlon", from Greek language, Greek δέκα (''déka'', meaning "ten") and ...

. He was the Director and Head Coach of the Men's and Women's

Track and Field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

and Cross Country programs at the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, ...

from 2002 to 2007. He married Monique Parker in 1997 with whom he had one son Zachary. He earned a degree from the University of California in Political Economies of Industrial Societies in 2007. Huffins is a member of

Alpha Phi Alpha Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. () is the oldest intercollegiate historically African American fraternity. It was initially a literary and social studies club organized in the 1905–1906 school year at Cornell University but later evolved int ...

fraternity. He is currently married to Tamika Huffins with whom he had another son, Jaxon.

Athletic career

Chris Huffins first became interested in

decathlon The decathlon is a combined event in Athletics (sport), athletics consisting of ten track and field events. The word "decathlon" was formed, in analogy to the word "pentathlon", from Greek language, Greek δέκα (''déka'', meaning "ten") and ...

while a student at the University of California. Sidelined with a broken toe, he watched other students performing decathlon and decided that that was the sport for him. Before becoming a decathlete, Chris Huffins was also a

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player, sprinter, and

long jumper 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 ...

. As a decathlete, Huffins acquired a reputation as a fast starter but a slow finisher, prone to surging ahead on the first day of the competition, but fading on the second day. Huffins denied this accusation, saying that it was an accident of ordering because his two weakest events (javelin, 1500m run) happened to be the final two events of the decathlon.

Achievements

*1992 Olympic Trials - decathlon - 16th *1993

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

- decathlon - 1st *1993 USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships - decathlon - 9th *1993

Pacific-10 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS; formerly Division ...

, decathlon - 1st *1993 Ranked by

Track and Field News ''Track & Field News'' is an American monthly sports magazine founded in 1948 by brothers Bert Nelson and Cordner Nelson, focused on the world of track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on runni ...

decathlon - 9th U.S. *1995 USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships - decathlon - 2nd *1995 1995 World Championships in Athletics

Ullevi Stadium Ullevi, sometimes known as Nya Ullevi (, ''New Ullevi''), is a multi-purpose stadium in Gothenburg, Sweden. It was built for the 1958 FIFA World Cup, but since then has also hosted the World Allround Speed Skating Championships six times; th ...

Gothenburg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

- decathlon - 8th *1995 Ranked by

decathlon - 8th World, 2nd U.S. *1996 Olympic Trials - decathlon - 3rd *1996

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

- decathlon - 10th *1996 Ranked by

decathlon - 10th World, 3rd U.S. *1997 USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships - decathlon - 2nd *1997 Ranked by

decathlon - 7th World, 2nd U.S. *1998 USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships - decathlon - 1st *1998 Deca Jam, - decathlon - 1st *1998

Goodwill Games The Goodwill Games were an international sports competition created by Ted Turner in reaction to the political troubles surrounding the Olympic Games of the 1980s. In 1979, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan caused the United States and other ...

, - decathlon - 2nd *1998 Ranked by

decathlon - 5th World, 2nd U.S. *1998 Recipient of the John H. Bennett Award presented by

USA Track & Field USA Track & Field (USATF) is the 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 ...

*1999 USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships - decathlon - 1st *1999

Pan Am Games The Pan American Games (also known colloquially as the Pan Am Games) is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas featuring summer sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The competition is held ...

- decathlon - 1st *1999

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

- decathlon - 3rd *1999 Recipient of the John H. Bennett Award presented by

*2000 Olympic Trials - decathlon - 2nd *2000

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

- decathlon - 3rd *2000 Ranked by

decathlon - 4th World, 1st U.S. *2000 Inducted into the Indiana State Track & Field Hall of Fame *2000 Recipient of the John H. Bennett Award presented by

USA Track and Field USA Track & Field (USATF) is the 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 ...

Huffins holds the heptathlon world best in the 60 m dash with a time of 6.61 seconds.

2000 Sydney Olympics

Leading into the Sydney Games, Huffins established himself as one of the best decathletes in the world. In 1998, he finished second in the

, and in 1999, Huffins won the

Pan American Games The Pan American Games (also known colloquially as the Pan Am Games) is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas featuring summer sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The competition is held ...

and finished third at the 1999 World Championships in the decathlon. At the 2000 USA Olympic trials, Huffins finished second behind

Tom Pappas Tom Pappas (born September 6, 1976, in Azalea, Oregon) is an American track & field decathlete. Pappas won the gold medal at the 2003 World Championships held outside Paris, France and was rated number 1 in the world that year by Trac ...

and ahead of

Kip Janvrin Kip Janvrin (born July 8, 1965 in Guthrie Center, Iowa) is an American former decathlete. Janvrin is a native of Panora, Iowa and is now the Co-Head Track & Field Coach at the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg, Missouri. College ca ...

, his future teammates at Sydney. At the Sydney Olympics, Huffins performed consistently, and after the first nine events, including the javelin, he led eventual winner

Erki Nool Erki Nool (born 25 June 1970, in Võru, Estonia) is an Estonian decathlete and former politician. Life and career Nool grew up in an impoverished environment in the southern part of Võru. His father was a worker in a furniture factory and his ...

by 14 points. In the concluding 1500m event, Huffins ran a hard race, beating his previous best time by almost 13 seconds. It was enough to capture the bronze medal. Huffins score was a season's best of 8595 points and only 46 points short of gold medalist Erki Nool. On the topic of not winning the gold medal, Huffins later said there were as many bronze medals as gold medals, so he didn't feel any less honored for finishing third.

Coaching career

After spending some time as an assistant coach for

Wake Forest University Wake Forest University is a private research university in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Founded in 1834, the university received its name from its original location in Wake Forest, north of Raleigh, North Carolina. The Reynolda Campus, the un ...

Winston-Salem, North Carolina Winston-Salem is a city and the county seat of Forsyth County, North Carolina, United States. In the 2020 census, the population was 249,545, making it the second-largest municipality in the Piedmont Triad region, the 5th most populous city in N ...

and

Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Georgia Tech or, in the state of Georgia, as Tech or The Institute, is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1885, it is part of ...

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

, Huffins was hired at his alma mater, the University of California, to coach his old team, The Golden Bears. Under his direction, the team has won 14

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

n honors, set 12 new school records, sent five athletes to the 2004

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...

, and in 2005, two of Huffin's athletes were ranked in the top 10 in the United States. On May 29, 2007, Huffins announced his resignation from his position as director of track and field at the University of California. After brief stints at

Boise State University Boise State University (BSU) is a public research university in Boise, Idaho. Founded in 1932 by the Episcopal Church, it became an independent junior college in 1934 and has been awarding baccalaureate and master's degrees It became a publ ...

Eastern Michigan University Eastern Michigan University (EMU, Eastern Michigan or simply Eastern), is a public research university in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Founded in 1849 as Michigan State Normal School, the school was the fourth normal school established in the United Sta ...

, the

University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two Territories became the state of Oklahom ...

& Clemson, he is currently (2014-2015) going into his second year coaching the

Purdue Boilermakers The Purdue Boilermakers are the official intercollegiate athletics teams representing Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana. As is common with athletic nicknames, the Boilermakers nickname is also used as colloquial designation ...

References

trackfield.brinksterDecathlon2000 Bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Huffins, Chris 1970 births Living people American male decathletes Athletes (track and field) at the 1999 Pan American Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1996 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2000 Summer Olympics California Golden Bears men's track and field athletes Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets track and field coaches Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Oklahoma Sooners track and field coaches Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in track and field Sportspeople from Brooklyn Track and field athletes from New York City World Athletics Championships medalists Pan American Games medalists in athletics (track and field) Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States Goodwill Games medalists in athletics Competitors at the 1998 Goodwill Games Medalists at the 1999 Pan American Games