Steven Solomon (born 16 May 1993) is an Australian Olympic sprinter. He is a six-time defending Australian 400 metres champion. In 2011, he broke the 30-year-old national junior record in the

400m The 400 metres, or 400-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics (sport), athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor runn ...

. At the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

in London at the age of 19, Solomon competed in the finals of the men's 400m race, placing eighth with a time of 45.14 after running a time of 44.97 in the semifinals. He was the first Australian man in 24 years to reach the 400m Olympic final, and became the first Australian since Cathy Freeman to make the final of the 400m at the Olympic Games for Australia. At the 2012

IAAF World Junior Championships The World Athletics U20 Championships is a biennial world championships for the sport of athletics organised by the World Athletics, contested by athletes in the under-20 athletics age category (19 years old or younger on 31 December in the year ...

he won a bronze medal. At the

2013 Maccabiah Games The 19th Maccabiah ( he, המכביה התשע-עשרה) were held during July 18 to 30, 2013. The Games brought together 7,500 competing athletes, making it the third-largest international sporting event in the world after the Olympic Games and ...

, Solomon won a silver medal in the 400m race. At Stanford in 2013, he established a new freshman record in the 400m. In 2014, he set a new Stanford record in the outdoor 400m with a time of 45.36, and ran a 500m in 1:01.44 (the third-fastest time in the world to that point).

Early life

Solomon was born in the

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 ...

suburb of Vaucluse, New South Wales, Australia, and is

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

."Steven Solomon - 2012-13 Track and Field Roster,"
GoStanford.com. His local rabbi is Levi Wolff, a

Chabad Chabad, also known as Lubavitch, Habad and Chabad-Lubavitch (), is an Orthodox Jewish Hasidic dynasty. Chabad is one of the world's best-known Hasidic movements, particularly for its outreach activities. It is one of the largest Hasidic group ...

nik who runs

Australia’s largest

Modern Orthodox Judaism Modern Orthodox Judaism (also Modern Orthodox or Modern Orthodoxy) is a movement within Orthodox Judaism that attempts to synthesize Jewish values and the observance of Jewish law with the secular, modern world. Modern Orthodoxy draws on sever ...

congregation, Central Synagogue."London Olympics: Australia’s Steven Solomon takes fast track to Olympics,"
''AZ Jewish Post''. His father, Michael, is a South African-born orthopedic surgeon, and his mother is Lucille Solomon.About Me — Steven Solomon
/ref> He has a younger sister, Bianca. Solomon was raised in

East Lindfield East Lindfield is a suburb on the Upper North Shore of Sydney in the state of New South Wales, Australia. East Lindfield is located 13 kilometres north-west of the Sydney Central Business District in the local government area of Ku-ring-gai Counc ...

and attended

Lindfield East Public School Lindfield East Public School, (abbreviation LEPS) is a school located in East Lindfield Sydney, Australia. It is a co-educational public school operated by the New South Wales Department of Education with students from Kindergarten to Year 6. It ...

and Cranbrook School, Sydney. Solomon planned to follow his father into medicine after accepting an athletic scholarship in track at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

. At Stanford, he studied Human Biology, and graduated in 2017."Solomon secures spot at world championships"
''The Australian Jewish News''. He is attending

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...

in 2017-18 to study for a Masters in Management Studies (MMS) at the

Fuqua School of Business The Fuqua School of Business (pronounced ) is the business school of Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. It enrolls more than 1,300 students in degree-seeking programs. Duke Executive Education also offers non-degree business education and ...

."Duke Signs Olympic 400m Finalist Steven Solomon,"
GoDuke.com.

Career

Solomon first began formal track training in 2009, and that year he won the Under-17 All-Schools Championship in the

."The wonderful sprinter of Oz,"
''Haaretz''. Solomon competed for Australia in the

Maccabiah Games The Maccabiah Games (a.k.a. the World Maccabiah Games; he, משחקי המכביה, or משחקי המכביה העולמית; sometimes referred to as the "Jewish Olympics"), first held in 1932, are an international Jewish and Israeli multi-sp ...

, the "Jewish Olympics", as captain of the junior soccer team at the

2009 Maccabiah Games The 18th Maccabiah Games ( he, המכביה ה-18 ישראל תשס"ט), were held in July 2009. According to the organizing committee these were the largest games held yet. These Games were the world's fifth-largest sporting event, behind the Ol ...

. He was named the 2009 Maccabi New South Wales Junior Sportsman of the Year. After breaking the 30-year-old national junior record in the 400m in 2011, Solomon was part of the Australian squad in the

4 × 400 metres relay The 4 × 400 metres relay or long relay is an athletics track event in which teams consist of four runners who each complete 400 metres or one lap. It is traditionally the final event of a track meet. At top class events, th ...

at the

2011 World Championships in Athletics The 13th IAAF World Championships in Athletics () was an international athletics competition that was held in Daegu, South Korea. It started on 27 August 2011 and finished on 4 September 2011. The United States topped the medal standings in th ...

. He won the 2011 Australia National Championship in the 400m at 17 years of age. In September 2011, he suffered a hamstring tear. He was named the Maccabi New South Wales Sportsman of the Year in 2011. At the

in London at the age of 19, he competed in the finals of the Men's 400 m race, placing eighth with a time of 45.14, after running a time of 44.97 in the semifinals. Two and a half years prior, Solomon had never run a 400m race. He was the first Australian man in 24 years to reach the 400m final at the Olympics. He also ran on Australia's 4x400 relay team that ran 3:03.17 in the first round, and did not advance to the final. He won the 2012 Australia National Championship in the 400m in a time of 45.54, despite his hamstring injury. At the 2012

Barcelona 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 ...

, Spain, he won a bronze medal in the

as he set a personal record of 45.52. He was awarded the 2012 Richard Coombes Memorial Award for Most Outstanding Male Athlete."Solomon named NSW’s top athlete,"
''The Australian Jewish News''. Solomon competed for Australia again as captain of the junior soccer team at the

. At those Games he also competed in track, and won a silver medal in the 400m race, with a time of 46.24. At the 2013 Morton Games in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

, Ireland, he came in third with a time of 46.18. At the

2013 World Championships in Athletics The 14th IAAF World Championships in Athletics (Moscow 2013) () was an international athletics competition held in Moscow, Russia, from 10–18 August 2013. Initially, Russia won the most gold medals to top the table for the first time since 200 ...

in Moscow, Russia, returning from a back injury he led off for the Australia 4 x 400 relay team, running a split of 45.3, as the team finished eighth in the final with a time of 3:02.26. At Stanford in 2013, he established a new freshman record in the 400 with a 46.12 (No. 3 on the school's all-time list), and was named a second-team All-American. He was also named the top junior sprinter for 2013 at the

NSW ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

Athletics’ awards, and the Maccabi Australia Outstanding Jewish Sportsman of the Year. In 2014, he set a new Stanford record in the outdoor 400m while winning the Australian national championship, running 45.36, and also finished second at the

Pac-12 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

Championships in a time of 45.79. Running indoors for Stanford, Solomon ran a 45.75 split in the 400 medley relay at the 2014 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships (as the Cardinal won the title in 9:37.63), and also won the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) title in the 400 in 46.24, and ran a 500 in 1:01.44 (the third-fastest time in the world to that point). He was injured, as a back problem turned into a chronic hamstring injury and then a torn hamstring in the

semifinal at the

2014 Commonwealth Games The 2014 Commonwealth Games ( gd, Geamannan a' Cho-fhlaitheis 2014), officially known as the XX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Glasgow 2014, ( sco, Glesca 2014 or Glesga 2014; gd, Glaschu 2014), was an international multi-sport ev ...

that necessitated surgery after the Games, and he therefore only competed for Stanford for two years. Solomon just missed the qualifying time to represent Australia at the

2016 Olympic Games ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro d ...

."Fifth national title for studious Solomon"
/ref> The cut-off was 45.40, and he missed it by one-10th of a second. In April 2017, Solomon won a record-tying fifth Australian National Championship in the 400m, in a time of 46.66 in wet conditions. At the June 2017 TrackTown Summer Series 400m race he ran a time of 45.19, his fastest race since the 2012 Olympic final, thereby qualifying for the

2017 World Championships in Athletics Seventeen or 17 may refer to: * 17 (number), the natural number following 16 and preceding 18 * one of the years 17 BC, AD 17, 1917, 2017 Literature Magazines * ''Seventeen'' (American magazine), an American magazine * ''Seventeen'' (Japane ...

in London. As a graduate student at Duke University in 2017-18, he is finishing his final year of

National Collegiate Athletic Association 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 ...

(NCAA) athletic eligibility with the

Duke Blue Devils The Duke Blue Devils are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Duke University, located in Durham, North Carolina. Duke's athletics department features 27 varsity teams that all compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Associatio ...

track & field team. In January 2018 he set a new personal record in the indoor 800m with a time of 1:52.09, and in February 2018 he set new personal records in the indoor 400m with a time of 45.44 (setting a new Australian record, and breaking the all-time Duke University indoor record for that distance as well as the

ACC ACC most often refers to: * Atlantic Coast Conference, an NCAA Division I collegiate athletic conference located in the US *American College of Cardiology, A US-based nonprofit medical association that bestows credentials upon cardiovascular spec ...

record), and in the 600m with a time of 1:17.49 (breaking the Duke record). He finished the season as first team All-ACC, and a second team All-American.Solomon Represents Duke in the 400m at NCAAs - Duke University Blue Devils , Official Athletics Site - GoDuke.com
/ref> At age 26, he was an Australian Athletics Team co-captain, stating at the end of 2019 that he was aiming to medal at the upcoming Tokyo Olympics. In October 2019, "London Olympics finalist Steve Solomon did just enough to claim a spot in the men’s 400m semi-finals," getting the last of the available qualifying berths when he finished fourth in his first heat. He was training isolation in May 2020. He was heading the Australian team in September 2019 from their training base in Italy. After the Olympics were postponed, he said in July 2020 that he had returned to proper competitive training. Solomon on August 29, 2020 had an

op-ed An op-ed, short for "opposite the editorial page", is a written prose piece, typically published by a North-American newspaper or magazine, which expresses the opinion of an author usually not affiliated with the publication's editorial board. O ...

in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' published, where he stated it was "heartbreaking" that Covid-19 was leaving athletes unable to compete in the Olympics as planned. In 2020, his coach remained Penny Gillies, a former 100m Olympic hurdler.

Achievements

References

External links

*
Steven Solomon website
*
Stanford Cardinal bioRandwick Botany Harriers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Solomon, Steven 1993 births Living people Australian male sprinters Australian people of South African descent Jewish Australian sportspeople Jewish male athletes (track and field) Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes of Australia World Athletics Championships athletes for Australia Commonwealth Games competitors for Australia Athletes (track and field) at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2018 Commonwealth Games People educated at Cranbrook School, Sydney Stanford University alumni People from Stanford, California Maccabiah Games medalists in athletics Maccabiah Games competitors for Australia Maccabiah Games silver medalists Competitors at the 2009 Maccabiah Games Competitors at the 2013 Maccabiah Games Sportsmen from New South Wales Australian soccer players Association footballers not categorized by position Maccabiah Games footballers Australian Athletics Championships winners Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics 20th-century Australian people 21st-century Australian people

Early life

Career

Achievements

See also

References

External links