Ronnie Ray Smith

Ronald " Ronnie " Ray Smith (born 28 March 1949 in Los Angeles, † March 31, 2013 ) was an American sprinter and Olympic gold medalist.

At the U.S. Championships on June 20, 1968 in Sacramento, the 10-second barrier was broken in the 100 - meter sprints. Already in the heats ran two athletes - Jim Hines and the Jamaican Lennox Miller - 9.8 and 9.9 s, however, could not be recognized as a world record due to the strong tailwind. Both runs were intermediate in 9.9 s won - the first of Jim Hines, the second by Charles Greene, said Hines was only just before the simultaneous Ronnie Ray Smith. The tailwind was only 0.78 km / h, and that the track, as it turned out afterwards, was eleven inches too long, the recognition of the triple world record did not stop. Ronnie Ray Smith, however, was favored by the hand times since its electronically measured time ( 10.14 s) (s 10.03 ) was significantly higher than that of Hines. In the final finals was Ronnie Ray Smith Fifth, the first six with 10.0 s were stopped.

As a fourth of the discharged in South Lake Tahoe excretions for the Olympic Games in Mexico City Ronnie Ray Smith was nominated for the 4 x 100 - meter relay. The U.S. team won in a world record time of 38.2 s ( Team: Charles Greene, Mel Pender, Smith and Jim Hines ).

Ronnie Ray Smith was 1.82 m tall and weighed 79 kg. In his college days, he started for the San José State University.