Sheila Ann Echols (born October 2, 1964) is a retired

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 eve ...

athlete from the

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 Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

who competed in the

100 metres The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been conteste ...

and the

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a ...

. She won a gold medal at the

1988 Olympic Games 1988 Olympics refers to both: *The 1988 Winter Olympics, which were held in Calgary, Alberta, Canada *The 1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1 ...

in the 4 x 100 m relay. She also won the

1989 IAAF World Cup The 5th IAAF World Cup in Athletics was an international track and field sporting event sponsored by the International Association of Athletics Federations, held on September 8–10, 1989, at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys in Barcelona, Spain. ...

100 m title.

Career

Echols was born in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mo ...

, USA. At the

Seoul, South 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 o ...

, she won a gold medal in the 4 x 100 metres relay, alongside teammates Alice Brown, 100 m gold medalist

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 1 ...

and 100 m silver medalist

Evelyn Ashford Evelyn Ashford (born April 15, 1957) is an American retired track and field athlete, the 1984 Olympic champion in the 100-meter dash. She ran under the 11-second barrier over 30 times and was the first to run under 11 seconds in an Olympic Game ...

. They ran 41.98 seconds. She was also an international long jumper and competed in that event at two Olympics. In Seoul, she failed to qualify for the final, placing 16th with a jump of 6.37m. In 1992, at the Olympic Games in Barcelona, she placed 7th in the final with a jump of 6.62m. She won a silver medal in the sprint relay at the 1993 World Championships, where she ran in the heats but not the final. Her biggest individual success came when she won the 1989 World Cup 100 metres title ahead of Mary Onyali and Reigning World Champion Silke Gladisch-Moller. Her 100 metres personal best of 10.83 was achieved at the 1988 US Olympic Trials. Echols ran track collegiately at

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 n ...

Personal bests

* Long jump — 6.94m (1987) * 100 metres — 10.83 (1988)

References

*
1964 births Living people American female sprinters American female long jumpers Athletes (track and field) at the 1988 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1992 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the United States in track and field Athletes (track and field) at the 1987 Pan American Games Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States Sportspeople from Memphis, Tennessee Track and field athletes from Tennessee LSU Lady Tigers track and field athletes Medalists at the 1988 Summer Olympics World Athletics Championships medalists Pan American Games medalists in athletics (track and field) Goodwill Games medalists in athletics USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners Competitors at the 1990 Goodwill Games Medalists at the 1987 Pan American Games 20th-century American women {{US-athletics-Olympic-medalist-stub