On Monday, former American sprinter and famend coach Harvey Look died at 66 after going into cardiac arrest. Look was a three-time Olympian with Staff USA and received gold within the 4x100m on the 1976 Olympics in Montreal. He additionally performed a pivotal function within the success of three-time Olympic 400m particular person medallist Kirani James of Grenada.
A legend in each sense of the phrase.
Alabama mourns the lack of former head coach Harvey Look.
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— Alabama Observe & Discipline (@AlabamaTrack) June 14, 2023
Look’s teaching journey started at Auburn College in 1990, the place he began as an assistant coach earlier than taking up the function of head coach. In 1997, Look grew to become the pinnacle coach on the College of Alabama, the place he labored with a number of prime athletes, together with James. Notably, he served as Staff USA’s males’s assistant coach for sprints and hurdles on the Beijing 2008 Olympics and because the head males’s coach on the 2009 World Championships in Berlin.
Even after retiring from teaching on the College of Alabama in 2011, Look continued to teach James, and collectively they achieved exceptional feats within the males’s 400m. James claimed the world 400m title in 2011, secured the Olympic 400m title on the London 2012 Olympics, and earned 4 extra world medals within the one-lap occasion between 2015 and 2022. On the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, James made historical past by changing into the primary man to earn the complete set of medals within the 400m occasion. He holds the excellence of being Grenada’s first and solely Olympic medallist and champion.
Look’s personal athletic accomplishments embody profitable the gold medal within the 100m on the 1976 U.S. Olympic Trials in Eugene, which secured his spot on the staff for the Montreal Olympics, the place he helped Staff USA win gold within the males’s 4x100m, operating the opening leg. In 1987, he additionally received a world championship gold medal as a part of the 4x100m U.S. staff alongside Lee McRae, Lee McNeill, and the good Carl Lewis.
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In recognition of Look’s achievements, he was inducted into the Alabama Sports activities Corridor of Fame in 1996 and, most notably, acquired a Congressional Gold Medal of Freedom in 2008, which is awarded to those that have carried out an achievement that has an influence on American historical past and tradition that’s more likely to be acknowledged as a significant achievement within the recipient’s subject lengthy after their achievement.
