MOSES, EDWIN

born 1956, Dayton, Ohio, U.S. Edwin Moses clearing a hurdle during his gold-medal performance in the 400-metre hurdle competition American hurdler and winner of the gold medal for the 400-metre hurdles in the 1976 and 1984 Olympic Games. Moses competed in cross-country, track, and football in high school and entered Morehouse College (Atlanta, Ga.) on an academic scholarship. There he first ran the 400-metre race and the 120-yard high hurdles but began running the 400-metre hurdles in 1976. In the 1976 Olympic Games at Montreal, he won the gold medal and set his first world record of 47.64 sec. Moses proceeded to set successive world records for the 400-metre hurdles of 47.45 sec (1977), 47.13 sec (1980), and 47.02 sec (1983). He received a B.S. degree in physics in 1978 and moved to California, where he worked as an engineer and trained. He won the James E. Sullivan Award as the best U.S. amateur athlete of 1984.