Denean Elizabeth Howard-Hill (born October 5, 1964) is an American athlete who competed mainly in the 400 metres. At the Olympics she competed as Miss Howard in 1984, as Mrs. Howard-Hill in 1988, and as Mrs. Hill in 1992. She competed for the United States, winning a gold medal at the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the sec ...

held in Los Angeles as a member of the 4 x 400 metres relay team, running in the preliminary rounds with her sister Sherri running in the final. It was a reversal 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 ...

held in

Seoul 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 ...

, South Korea in the 4 x 400 metres relay, where both sisters won the silver medal, but Denean ran in the final with her teammates Diane Dixon,

Valerie Brisco-Hooks Valerie Ann Brisco-Hooks (born July 6, 1960, in Greenwood, Mississippi) is an Olympian who won three gold medals as an Olympic track and field athlete at the 1984 Olympics at Los Angeles, California, making her the first Olympian to win gold ...

and

Florence Griffith Joyner Florence Delorez Griffith Joyner (born Florence Delorez Griffith; December 21, 1959 – September 21, 1998), also known as Flo-Jo, was an American track and field athlete. She set world records in 1988 for the 100 m and 200 m. During the late ...

. The team set the current standing American Record in the event, which is still the second best time ever run behind the winning

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

team in that race. She is married to boxer,

Virgil Hill Virgil Eugene Hill (born January 18, 1964) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1984 to 2007, and in 2015. He is a two-weight world champion, having held the WBA light heavyweight title twice, from 1987 to 1997; the IBF a ...

; her son Virgil was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the sixth round of the 2009 MLB Draft, currently playing for the Class-A

Batavia Muckdogs The Batavia Muckdogs are a collegiate summer baseball team in the Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League (PGCBL). They are located in Batavia, a city in Genesee County, New York, United States. Their home field is Dwyer Stadium in the city of ...

. Denean Howard and her 3 sisters gained fame in 1979 when the four of them teamed up to set the National High School record in the 4x440 yard relay for

San Gorgonio High School San Gorgonio High School is a comprehensive senior high school in the San Bernardino City Unified School District. Its campus is located at the corner of Pacific Street and Arden Avenue on the border between San Bernardino and Highland, Californi ...

in San Bernardino. That distance is now rarely run as the NFHS converted to metric distances, so the record still stands today. Later teams with Denean broke the record for the slightly shorter

4x400 metres relay Four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 ("four by four") or 4WD, refers to a two-axled vehicle drivetrain capable of providing torque to all of its wheels simultaneously. It may be full-time or on-demand, and is typically linked via a transfer case ...

, after sister Atra graduated and the rest of the family moved to Kennedy High School (Los Angeles). Denean was the California High School Athlete of the Year at Kennedy in 1982, following in the footsteps of her sister Sherri. Also following her sister, she was named the national Girl's "High School Athlete of the Year" 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 ...

, two years in a row. Her 1982 52.39 was the NFHS national high school record for eighteen years, before it was beaten by

Monique Henderson Monique Marie Henderson (born February 18, 1983 in San Diego, California) is an American track and field athlete, who specializes in the 400-meter dash. Henderson was a gold medalist in both the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece and the 2 ...

. At age 15, she qualified for the ill-fated 1980 U.S. Olympic Team which was part of the

1980 Olympic Boycott The 1980 Summer Olympics boycott was one part of a number of actions initiated by the United States to protest against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The Soviet Union, which hosted the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, and its allies late ...

finishing behind sister Sherri at the 1980 Olympic Trials, the first sisters to make the Olympic team simultaneously in the same event. She is currently an assistant coach at the

College of the Canyons College of the Canyons (COC) is a public community college in Santa Clarita, California. It comprises the Santa Clarita Community College District. The college is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges and has campus loca ...

References

External links

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California State Records before 2000
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Howard, Denean 1964 births Living people American female sprinters Athletes (track and field) at the 1984 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1988 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1992 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for the United States in track and field World Athletics Championships medalists Track and field athletes from California Medalists at the 1992 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1988 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1984 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1987 Pan American Games Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States Pan American Games bronze medalists for the United States Olympic gold medalists for the United States in track and field Pan American Games medalists in athletics (track and field) Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) Universiade gold medalists for the United States Medalists at the 1987 Summer Universiade Medalists at the 1987 Pan American Games Olympic female sprinters 21st-century American women