From TrackSide Magazine - Issue 3 - "Time Stands Still" - Johnny Gray 800 Meter American Record Holder

For most of the 1980’s and early 90’s, Johnny Gray was the best middle distance runner in America. The California native made four Olympic teams (1984-1996), and won a bronze medal in his signature event, the 800, at the Barcelona Games of 1992. Years earlier, in 1985, Gray set the U.S. record in the 800 with a time of 1:42.60, a standard of excellence that has now held up for twenty-eight years.

(Right video) Johnny Gray
setting the American standard
of 1:42.60 back in 1985. No one
has broken the mark in 28 years.

Since retiring from competition soon after the turn of the 21st century, Gray has made his mark as a coach, first at UCLA, and now Central Florida where he is working with the distance runners and assisting head coach Jeanette Bolden. Now 53, he first earned his coaching stripes as the mentor for Santa Monica Track Club teammate Khadevis Robinson, who won five U.S. championships under the tutelage of Gray, who won seven of his own. This year, he has been instrumental in guiding the careers of 800-meter runners Maz Okoro and Duane Solomon, both of whom were seeded among the favorites at the recent World Championships in Moscow.

His working relationship with Solomon, 28, is especially noteworthy, mainly because the mentee has an excellent chance of breaking Gray’s AR, having already clocked a 1:42.82 last year.

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Chip Jenkins, is a gold medal winning member of the 1600-meter relay team at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. Although Jenkins didn’t race directly against Gray (“Johnny didn’t dip into the 500 and 600 too often”), his accomplishments bridge the careers of both Gray, the runner and Gray, the coach. Now an intellectual property attorney in Washington, D.C., Jenkins was one of Gray’s contemporaries, and now at 49, watched earlier this summer as Solomon broke his American record of 1:15.80 in the 600 meters, a mark that stood for 26 years.

Jenkins recalls watching Gray race in the 80’s. “What strikes me about Johnny Gray was that he always ran within himself. It's great that he imparted upon Duane the same knowledge and habits to win consistently indoors and out.”

Even though it meant losing his American record.

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To read the rest of this article, please go to page 34 at trackside3.tracknation.com