University of Tennessee Athletics
Justin Gatlin Wins Coveted Jesse Owens Award
November 29, 2004 | Men's Track
Nov. 29, 2004
Former Vol sprinter Justin Gatlin (2001-02) capped his storybook 2004 season by winning the Jesse Owens Award, the most prestigious award in American track and field. Gatlin, who won a complete set of medals in his first Olympic Games in Athens, Greece this summer, joined 100-meter hurdler Joanna Hayes as the male and female recipient of the 2004 Jesse Owens Award.
"It is such a great honor to win the Jesse Owens Award," Gatlin said. "It is one of the biggest honors in track and field, and it is a great end to a great year. I'd like to congratulate all my fellow Team USA members and Jesse Owens Award finalists on their outstanding 2004 seasons."
No athlete with Tennessee ties had ever won the Jesse Owens Award before 2003, when Tom Pappas brought home the trophy for indoor and outdoor world championships in the heptathlon and decathlon, respectively. Pappas and Gatlin give the Volunteers two consecutive award winners.
The Jesse Owens Award, which can be viewed as track and field's exclusive equivalent of the NFL MVP honor, is given annually since 1981 to the most outstanding American track and field star. In testament to Tennessee's recent track and field success, two of the six male finalists hailed from Tennessee, as Olympic pole vault record holder and gold medalist Tim Mack also made the list of finalists. Male nominees for the 2004 Jesse Owens Award were Gatlin, Mack, Jeremy Wariner, Shawn Crawford, Dwight Phillips and Meb Keflezighi. The award winner was selected by a vote of U.S. track and field media members.
Gatlin's 2004 season established the 22-year-old sprinter as "the fastest man in the world" after the former Volunteer won an historic 100 final at the Olympic Games. The unheralded Gatlin won the fastest 100 final in Olympic history, with five men finishing under 9.95 seconds. Gatlin edged the field with a 9.85 steamer to post the world's fastest time in 2004. Running a total of 10 races, Gatlin won gold in the 100, silver in the 4x100 relay (38.08) and bronze in the 200 (20.03) to become the only male track and field athlete in the world to win three medals at the 2004 Games.
"We are proud to see Justin earn this prestigious award," Craig Masback, USA Track and Field CEO, said. "For him to win the Jesse Owens Award is a testament to his ability to perform when the chips are down in perhaps the most pressure-filled event in track and field. We congratulate Justin on his fine performances in 2004, and we look forward to many more years of excellence."
The permanent commemorative Jesse Owens award is kept at USA Track and Field Headquarters in Indianapolis, Ind. However, Gatlin and Hayes will receive a replica Friday night at the Jesse Owens Awards and Xerox Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, held at USA Track and Field's 2004 annual meeting in Portland, Ore.
Compiling the former winners creates a star-studded list of USA Track and Field's best and brightest champions. The exclusive Jesse Owens Award club includes American greats such as Edwin Moses (1981), Carl Lewis (1982 and 1991), Mary Decker (1983), Joan Benoit (1984), Willie Banks (1985), Jackie Joyner-Kersee (1986 and 1987), Florence Griffith Joyner (1988), Roger Kingdom (1989), Lynn Jennings (1990), Kevin Young (1992), Gail Devers (1993 and 1996), Michael Johnson (1994, 1995 and 1996), Allen Johnson (1997), Marion Jones (1997, 1998 and 2002), Tim Montgomery (2002), John Godina (1998 and 2001), Inger Miller (1999), Maurice Greene (1999), Stacy Dragila (2000 and 2001), Angelo Taylor (2000), Tom Pappas (2003) and Deena Kastor (2003).
Owens, the award's namesake and one of the all-time great U.S. track and field athletes, set three world records (long jump-26-8.25, 220 yd. dash-20.3 and 220 yd. low hurdles-22.6) and tied a fourth (100 yd. dash-9.4) all in just 70 minutes on May 25 at the Western Conference (now Big Ten) Championships in Ann Arbor, Mich., in a performance the world will probably never see again. In the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Germany, Owens won four gold medals to throttle Hitler's propaganda Games. Owens won gold in the 100, 200, long jump and 4x100 relay in a display of American strength portending the emergence of Team USA as the world's top track and field team. *Portions of release courtesy of USA Track and Field, www.usatf.org.
