Michael "Mike" Gonzales is a former

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 ...

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

. Gonzales attended

Bishop Montgomery High School Bishop Montgomery High School (commonly referred to as "BMHS" or simply "Bishop" by students) is a Catholic high school serving twenty-five parishes in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles. BMHS was founded in 1957, and staffed by the S ...

in Redondo Beach, California, where he played both

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

and

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 ...

. He was inducted into the school's Athletic Hall of Fame in 2013. Gonzales was offered multiple football

scholarships A scholarship is a form of financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, diversity and inclusion, athletic skill, and financial need. Scholarshi ...

to play at top universities. He accepted a full scholarship in

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 ...

from

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

with the intention of becoming an Olympic athlete. At USC Gonzales was a standout in decathlon, where he held the USC Decathlon School record from 1984-2019. He competed and won the gold medal in decathlon at the

1987 Pan American Games The 1987 Pan American Games, officially known as the X Pan American Games, was a major international multi-sport event held in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, on August 7–23, 1987. Over 4,300 athletes from 38 countries in the Americas c ...

in Indiana. Gonzales tried four times to make the USA Olympic Team in Decathlon (1984 1988, 1992,1996) but was plagued by injury in each attempt. Gonzales was recruited by Olympian Liston Bochette to participate in the

1998 Winter Olympics The 1998 Winter Olympics, officially known as the and commonly known as Nagano 1998 ( ja, 長野1998), was a winter multi-sport event held from 7 to 22 February 1998, mainly in Nagano, Japan, with some events taking place in the ...

representing

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

in the four-man bobsled team. At

2002 Winter Olympics The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 ( arp, Niico'ooowu' 2002; Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; nv, Sooléí 2002; Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), was an internation ...

Michael Gonzales did not meet Puerto Rico Olympic Committee rules about eligibility; after this, the

Puerto Rico Olympic Committee The Puerto Rico Olympic Committee (COPUR, es, Comité Olímpico de Puerto Rico) is the National Olympic Committee for Puerto Rico. It oversees Olympic-sports in Puerto Rico, and selects the Olympic team which represents the island. It was founde ...

withdrew the recognition of the Winter Sports Federation for the island, effectively ending any hopes for athletes competing at the Winter Olympics until 2018. Gonzales later became a competitive amateur golfer, competing in over 400 tournaments. In 2016 Mike Gonzales began to complete as a professional golfer, completing in Champion Tour Event qualifiers and 3 of the Champion Tour Qualifying School Tournaments. Today he is the CEO for TOPIMR, a web-based Internet Marketing Company.

Honors and awards

* 2014 USC Track and Field Hall of Fame; Heritage Award recipient * 2013 Bishop Montgomery High School, Athletic Hall of Fame * 1988 Personal Record Decathlon 8,203 points * 1987 Gold Medalist, Pan American Games Decathlon * 1987 United States Olympics Festival Decathlon Gold Medalist * 1984 USC All-American, Decathlon * 1984 USC Track and Field Record, Decathlon (8,022), Held Record 1984-2019 * 1983,1984, 1985 3 Time All-Pac-10 Decathlon * 1980 United States Junior Olympics National Decathlon * 1980 United States National Age Group Decathlon Record 16 years and under

Education

* Bishop Montgomery High School, Torrance CA (1982) * University of Southern California, BS in Communications(full scholarship, track and field)

Personal life

Gonzales resides in Southern California with his wife, Debra and his son Tanner.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gonzales, Mike 1964 births Living people Athletes (track and field) at the 1987 Pan American Games Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States American male decathletes USC Trojans men's track and field athletes Sportspeople from Redondo Beach, California Track and field athletes from California Pan American Games medalists in athletics (track and field) Medalists at the 1987 Pan American Games