Rafer Johnson
Rafer Lewis Johnson ( born August 18, 1935 in Hillsboro, Texas ) is a retired American athlete, the 1960 Olympic champion in the decathlon.
Life
Johnson's family moved to Kingsburg, California when he was nine years old. He first played in various school teams American football, baseball and basketball and decided to be a decathlete, after he had seen the double Olympic champion Bob Mathias on television.
1954 Johnson played his first decathlon during his first year of study at UCLA. Already in its fourth race he set a new world record. In 1954 he also won the title at the Pan American Games. At the Olympic Games in Melbourne in 1956, he finished second in the decathlon. He had also qualified for the long jump, but then retired to a small injury and therefore could not start.
Due to various injuries ( including a car accident ) Johnson missed seasons in 1957 and 1959. Yet in 1958 and 1960, he improved the world record ever a time. He was elected in 1958 by the magazine Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year.
The crowning achievement of his career took place at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome, where he became Olympic champion. Second was his friend, training and classmate, Taiwanese Yang Chuan - Kwang. Johnson received another athlete of the year award, this time from the Associated Press for Olympic victory.
After the Olympic victory Johnson ended his career. He had minor roles in several films and worked as a television sports commentator. Among other things, he also appeared in Beyond the Ruwenzori, where he played alongside Roger Moore. In 1968 he worked in the team of the presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy who was shot in the same year. In 1984, he lit the Olympic Games in Los Angeles, the Olympic torch after he had already been involved as a member of the Executive Committee of the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee in the organization of the Games.
Johnson's brother Jimmy was a very successful American football player, his daughter Jennifer played volleyball at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.
Movie Documentary
- The Rafer Johnson Story. TV documentary by Mel Stuart (director) and Malvin Wald (screenplay), USA 1961, color, 60 minutes