Edwin Moses

Edwin Moses (born August 31, 1955, Dayton, Ohio, U.S.) is a former American hurdler who dominated the 400-meter hurdles event for a decade, winning gold medals in the race at the 1976 and 1984 Olympic Games.

Moses competed in cross-country, track, and football in high school and studied physics at Morehouse College (B.S., 1978) in Atlanta. There he first ran the 400-meter race and the 120-yard high hurdles but began running the 400-meter hurdles in 1976.

In the 1976 Olympic Games at Montreal, Moses won the gold medal and set his first world record of 47.64 sec—an impressive showing for his first international meet. He proceeded to set successive world records for the 400-meter hurdles of 47.45 sec (1977), 47.13 sec (1980), and 47.02 sec (1983), the last of which stood for nine years. Moses defended his Olympic title at the 1984 Games in Los Angeles (the Americans boycotted the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games) and was chosen to recite the Olympic Oath at the Opening Ceremony. His swiftest Olympic time, 47.56 sec, earned him a bronze medal at the 1988 Games in Seoul. In one of the sport’s best-known winning streaks, Moses was unbeaten in the 400-meter hurdles from August 1977 until May 1987, with victories in 122 consecutive races.

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Moses briefly shifted his competitive focus to bobsledding in the early 1990s, competing at a world-class level. He earned a master’s degree in business administration from Pepperdine University in 1994. Also that year he was inducted into the U.S. National Track & Field Hall of Fame. Moses was named president of the International Amateur Athletic Association in 1997. Active in sports administration since the mid-1980s, he helped design a new drug-testing program, is a former chair of the World Anti-Doping Agency’s Education Committee, and is chair emeritus of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency.