Hollis Conway (born January 8, 1967) is a

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 ...

high jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

er and a two-time

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

medalist. He is currently employed by Lafayette Consolidated Government as the PARC Director in Lafayette Mayor-President Josh Guillory's administration. Conway previously served as the assistant director of Diversity, Leadership, & Education for the

Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns football The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns football program is a college football team that represents the University of Louisiana at Lafayette at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) level as a member of the Sun Belt Conference. Since 1971, the t ...

team under head coach

Billy Napier William Hall Napier (born July 21, 1979) is an American football coach currently serving as head coach at the University of Florida. From 2017 until 2021, he served as head coach at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, amassing a 40–12 rec ...

. Conway was the top-ranked high jumper in the U.S. seven straight years from 1988 to 1994 and in the world for two of those years (1990 and 1991). Conway, John Thomas and

Dwight Stones Dwight Edwin Stones (born December 6, 1953) is an American television commentator and a two-time Olympic bronze medalist and former three-time world record holder in the men's high jump. During his 16-year career, he won 19 national championshi ...

are the only Americans to win two Olympic medals in the

Career

Born in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

and a native of

Shreveport, Louisiana Shreveport ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the third most populous city in Louisiana after New Orleans and Baton Rouge, respectively. The Shreveport–Bossier City metropolitan area, with a population of 393,406 in 2020, is t ...

, Conway went 7-8¾ in the event at the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...

Seoul, Korea Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 of ...

, setting a U.S. collegiate record and earning a silver medal. He won a bronze medal in the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...

Barcelona, Spain Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

after going 7-8½ in winning the U.S. Olympic Team Trials that year. In 1989, Conway broke the American record twice in the high jump, winning the

NCAA Men's Outdoor Track and Field Championship The NCAA Men's Outdoor Track and Field Championship refers to one of three annual collegiate outdoor track and field competitions for men organised by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for athletes from institutions that make up ...

at 7-9¾ and the U.S. Olympic Festival at 7–10. He earned his first of two world No. 1 rankings in 1990 when he swept both the U.S. indoor and outdoor titles and won the

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 ...

. He had ten jumps of 7-8 or better that year. A six-time NCAA All-American and three-time NCAA champion at the

University of Louisiana at Lafayette The University of Louisiana at Lafayette (UL Lafayette, University of Louisiana, ULL, or UL) is a public research university in Lafayette, Louisiana. It has the largest enrollment within the nine-campus University of Louisiana System and the s ...

(then known as the University of Southwestern Louisiana). He established a new NCAA indoor record of at the 1989 NCAA Indoor Championships: it remains as one of the longest-standing NCAA, and Championship Meet, records through 2011. He won the winner at the 1988 NCAA Men's Outdoor Track and Field Championship and at the

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

he won with an American outdoor record height. Conway was ranked No. 1 in the world in 1991 by winning the

IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics The World Athletics Indoor Championships are a biennial indoor track and field competition served as the global championship for that version of the sport. Organised by the World Athletics, the competition was inaugurated as the ''World Indoor G ...

Seville, Spain Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...

, with an American indoor record of 7-10½. He defended his U.S. outdoor championship and won the 1991

World University Games The Universiade is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The name is a portmanteau of the words "University" and "Olympiad". The Universiade is referred t ...

, while finishing third in the 1991

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 World Outdoor Championships. He was ranked third in the world in 1992 and 1993. He was a Goodwill Games runner-up in 1994. In all, Conway won ten USA championship high jump titles (five outdoor, five indoor) before his retirement at the 2000

Drake Relays The Drake Relays (officially the Drake Relays presented by Xtream powered by Mediacom) is an outdoor track and field event held in Des Moines, Iowa, in Drake Stadium on the campus of Drake University. Billed as ''America's Athletic Classic'', it ...

(where he jumped 6 ft 9in, on 29 April 2000). He is a member of the

Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame The Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame is located in the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame & Northwest Louisiana History Museum – Natchitoches in a new facility in the downtown historic district in Natchitoches, Louisiana. After years of planning and con ...

and was inducted into the

Hall of Fame in 1999. Conway wrote the foreword of the ''Complete Book of Jumps'' (Human Kinetics Europe Ltd, 1995). His IAAF biography also credits Conway with a personal best in the

triple jump The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to the long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down th ...

of , which is an international-class distance (especially given that he likely did not practice this event very often).

Height differential

Conway jumped off his left foot and is considered short in stature, in comparison to other world-class high jumpers, many of whom stand 6'3"-to-6'5". His personal details on file with the

IAAF World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body for ...

officially list his height and weight as 1.83m and 68 kg, which equate to 6 feet one-quarter inch, and 150 pounds. However, in a high jump instructional video produced in 1991, which features Conway and his coach, Dick Booth, the narrator states Conway is "six feet one-half inch" (1.84m) and weighs "one hundred forty-five pounds." The narrator also says Conway has "average" speed, running 10.8 seconds for 100 meters, as well as having only an "average" vertical leap of 31 inches. At six feet tall, Conway has held a distinction with four others in track and field history for jumping over their own heights. Conway's best jump was above his head.official IAAF.org, ''Biographies''
Conway, Hollis - USA
accessed 13 March 2011.

International competitions

References

External links

Official website
* * * * * *
Conway Admitted to Louisiana High School Hall of Fame
{{DEFAULTSORT:Conway, Hollis 1967 births Living people American male high jumpers Athletes (track and field) at the 1988 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1991 Pan American Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1992 Summer Olympics Goodwill Games medalists in athletics Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns men's track and field athletes Medalists at the 1988 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1992 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in track and field Olympic silver medalists for the United States in track and field Pan American Games bronze medalists for the United States Pan American Games track and field athletes for the United States Pan American Games medalists in athletics (track and field) Sportspeople from Shreveport, Louisiana Track and field athletes from Louisiana Track and field athletes from Chicago FISU World University Games gold medalists for the United States Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) Universiade silver medalists for the United States World Athletics Championships athletes for the United States World Athletics Championships medalists World Athletics Indoor Championships winners Medalists at the 1989 Summer Universiade Medalists at the 1991 Summer Universiade Competitors at the 1990 Goodwill Games Competitors at the 1994 Goodwill Games Medalists at the 1991 Pan American Games