Michael Lawrence Marsh (born August 4, 1967) is a retired American sprinter, the 1992

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 ...

champion in the 200 m.

Biography

Marsh was born in

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, and attended high school at Hawthorne High School in

Hawthorne, California Hawthorne is a city in the Los Angeles metropolitan area, located in southwestern Los Angeles County, California. It is part of a seventeen-city region commonly called the South Bay. As of the 2020 US census, Hawthorne had a population of 88, ...

where he was overshadowed by

Henry Thomas Henry Jackson Thomas Jr. (born September 9, 1971) is an American actor. He began his career as a child actor and had a lead role in the film ''E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'' (1982), for which he won a Young Artist Award and received Golden Globe ...

, who he joined on numerous championship relays. Marsh, Thomas, Michael Graham and Sean Kelly joined to bring Hawthorne the National High School Record in the 4 × 400 m relay set at the

Texas Relays The Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays are an annual track and field competition held at Mike A. Myers Stadium in Austin, Texas. The University of Texas serves as host for the event, held on either the first or second weekend of April. Events are he ...

. The team joined to celebrate the silver anniversary of the record in 2010. When Thomas was sidelined with an appendix attack, requiring surgery just before the qualification cycle, Marsh won the 1985 CIF California State Meet in the 200 m. He continued running with Thomas at

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, his best achievement was a third place at the

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. He was inducted into the

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in 2016. Although Marsh could compete with the national class sprinters, he did not manage to qualify for an international event until 1991, when he qualified for the American relay team for the 1991 World Championships. Marsh ran in the heats on a team that set the Championship record, but not in the final, which was won by the Americans in World Record time. The next year, Marsh posted a time of 9.93s into a wind of 0.6 m/s at the Mt. SAC Relays in Walnut, which using a widely accepted wind/altitude correction calculator adjusted to the fastest ever intrinsic 100 m time recorded at that time in history. That was the second of what became a trend, a succession of eight early season outstanding 100 m marks set by Marsh at the Mt. SAC Relays. Marsh was elected into the Mt. SAC Relays Hall of Fame in 2003. At the 1992 US Olympic Trials, Marsh disappointingly finished fourth in the 100 m, not enough for individual qualification, but sufficient to make the relay team. In the 200 m, he placed second to Michael Johnson and qualified for the

Barcelona 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 ...

,. In

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, Marsh surprised all observers in his semi-final. He cruised through the race, simply securing qualification for the final. His qualifying time, however, was 19.73, just one hundredth of a second slower than the standing

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(and it was the American Record). This run was remarkable for the fact that he eased off ten metres from the line, stating in later interviews that he hadn't realised how fast he was running and wanted to save some energy for the final, which was to be held only a few hours later.
See the race
Unofficial split analysis from video of that run indicates he would have run faster than the world record at the time, Pietro Mennea's altitude-assisted 19.72s, if he hadn't eased off. An improvement of this record was anticipated for the final, but Marsh could not live up to those expectations. He did win the race however, beating early leader

Frankie Fredericks Frank "Frankie" Fredericks (born 2 October 1967) is a former track and field athlete from Namibia. Running in the 100 metres and 200 metres, he won four silver medals at the Olympic Games (two in 1992 and two in 1996), making him Namibia's only ...

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

. He did set a world record in the final of the 4 x 100 m, as the American team completed the race in 37.40. As the reigning Olympic champion, he surprisingly did not medal in the 200 m at the 1993 World Championships, placing fourth. His 1994 season went without a win, but he did lead off the

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's 4 × 200 m relay at the Mt. SAC Relays when the team of Marsh,

Leroy Burrell Leroy Russel Burrell (born February 21, 1967) is an American former track and field athlete, who twice set the world record for the 100 m sprint. Early life Burrell grew up in Lansdowne, Pennsylvania, and attended Penn Wood High School, w ...

Floyd Heard Floyd Wayne Heard (born March 24, 1966, in West Point, Mississippi) is a retired track and field sprinter from the United States, best known for setting the 1986 world's best year performance in the men's 200 m. He did so on 7 July 1986 at a mee ...

and

Carl Lewis Frederick Carlton Lewis (born July 1, 1961) is an American former track and field athlete who won nine Olympic gold medals, one Olympic silver medal, and 10 World Championships medals, including eight gold. His career spanned from 1979 to 1996 ...

set a

in the event that would stand until 2014. He returned strongly in 1995. He won the national championships in the 100 m, and represented his country in that event at the World Championships. There, he disappointed, finishing fifth in the final. The disappointment was complete when the relay team failed to finish the heats after a bad exchange. In 1996, Marsh managed to qualify for all three sprint events at the

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, ...

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, and he reached the final of all three. In the 100 m, he placed 5th and in his attempt to retain his 200 m title (which was taken by Johnson in a new world record time) he finished last. The American relay team, with Marsh as the third runner, was heavily favoured to take the 4 x 100 m title, but they were surprised by the

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team in the final, and had to settle for

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. He again qualified for the 100 m final at the 1997 World Championships, where he placed last due to a foot injury that required immediate surgery. In 2021 he was elected into the

National Track and Field Hall of Fame The National Track and Field Hall of Fame is a museum operated by The Armory Foundation in conjunction with USA Track & Field. It is located within the Armory Foundation (the former Fort Washington Avenue Armory) at 216 Fort Washington Avenue, ...

References

External links

Michael Marsh
at

USATF 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 a ...

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Marsh, Michael 1967 births Living people African-American male track and field athletes American male sprinters Athletes (track and field) at the 1992 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1996 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the United States in track and field Olympic silver medalists for the United States in track and field Track and field athletes from Los Angeles UCLA Bruins men's track and field athletes Sportspeople from Hawthorne, California Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1992 Summer Olympics Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) Goodwill Games medalists in athletics Universiade gold medalists for the United States USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners World Athletics Championships winners Competitors at the 1990 Goodwill Games Competitors at the 1994 Goodwill Games 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American sportspeople