# 1984 United States Olympic trials (track and field)

The 1984 United States Olympic trials for track and field were held at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, California, the same venue as would host the 1984 Olympics a month and a half later. Organised by The Athletics Congress (TAC), the nine-day competition lasted from June 16 until June 24. The national championships in track and field for the United States was a separate event that year, held a week earlier in San Jose, California. The women's marathon Olympic trials were held on May 12 in Olympia, Washington. The men's marathon trials were in Buffalo, New York on May 26.
The results of the event determined qualification for the United States at the 1984 Summer Olympics.
This meet had two of the closest finishes. In the women's 100 meters hurdles, the second, third and fourth-place finishers had the same time to the 100th of a second, with winner Kim Turner just one 100th ahead. Stephanie Hightower was the odd person out, not selected to the Olympic team. 28 years later at the 2012 trials, Hightower as President of USATF had to administer over another similar tie in the women's 100 meters between Allyson Felix and Jeneba Tarmoh that could not be separated by photo finish pictures. The other close finish was in the men's 800 meters, where Earl Jones and Johnny Gray both received the same time of 1:43.74 to share the American Record from the same race. And .17 behind them John Marshall and James Robinson also received the same time for the last qualifying place after Robinson kicked past the field and looked to have edged past Marshall, Robinson relaxed at the line while Marshall made one last lean to get the edge and take the final spot on the Olympic team.

## 1984 U.S. Olympic track and field trials results

1984 U.S. Olympic track and field trials results

### Men

Key: ≠ Athlete without "A" standard, not selected.

#### Men track events

| Event | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| 100 meters Wind -2.2 | Carl Lewis | 10.06 | Sam Graddy | 10.21 | Ron Brown | 10.23 |
| 200 meters | Carl Lewis | 19.86 | Kirk Baptiste | 20.05 | Thomas Jefferson | 20.37 |
| 400 meters | Antonio McKay | 44.71 | Alonzo Babers | 44.86 | Sunder Nix | 45.15 |
| 800 meters | Earl Jones | 1:43.74 NR | Johnny Gray | 1:43.74 | John Marshall | 1:43.91 |
| 1500 meters | Jim Spivey | 3:36.43 | Steve Scott | 3:36.76 | Sydney Maree | 3:37.02 |
| 5000 meters | Doug Padilla | 13:26.34 | Steve Lacy | 13:27.72 | Don Clary | 13:28.62 |
| 10,000 meters | Paul Cummings | 27:59.08 | Craig Virgin | 28:02.27 | Pat Porter | 28:03.86 |
| 110 meters hurdles Wind -1.1 | Greg Foster | 13.21 | Tonie Campbell | 13.34 | Roger Kingdom | 13.36 |
| 400 meters hurdles | Edwin Moses | 47.76 | Danny Harris | 48.11 | Tranel Hawkins | 48.28 |
| 3000 m s'chase | Henry Marsh | 8:15.91 | Brian Diemer | 8:17.00 | John Gregorek | 8:18.45 |
| 20K racewalk | Marco Evoniuk | 1:26:17 | Jim Heiring | 1:27:18 | Dan O'Connor | 1:29:12 |
| 50K racewalk | Marco Evoniuk | 4:02:25 | Vince O'Sullivan | 4:14:04 | Carl Schueler | 4:15:06 |
| Marathon | Pete Pfitzinger | 2:11:43 | Alberto Salazar | 2:11:44 | John Tuttle | 2:11:50 |

#### Men field events

| Event | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| High jump | Dwight Stones | 2.34 m (7 ft 8 in) | Doug Nordquist | 2.31 m (7 ft 6+3⁄4 in) | Milton Goode | 2.28 m (7 ft 5+3⁄4 in) |
| Pole vault | Mike Tully | 5.81 m (19 ft 1⁄2 in) NR | Doug Lytle | 5.71 m (18 ft 8+3⁄4 in) | Earl Bell | 5.61 m (18 ft 4+3⁄4 in) |
| Long jump | Carl Lewis | 8.71 m (28 ft 6+3⁄4 in) +0.1 | Larry Myricks | 8.25 m (27 ft 3⁄4 in)w +0.8 | Mike McRae | 8.15 m (26 ft 8+3⁄4 in) +0.7 |
| Triple jump | Mike Conley | 17.50 m (57 ft 4+3⁄4 in) -0.5 | Al Joyner | 17.19 m (56 ft 4+3⁄4 in) -0.8 | Willie Banks | 17.14 m (56 ft 2+3⁄4 in) *2.0 |
| Shot put | Dave Laut | 21.35 m (70 ft 1⁄2 in) | Augie Wolf | 21.24 m (69 ft 8 in) | Michael Carter | 20.84 m (68 ft 4+1⁄4 in) |
| Discus throw | John Powell | 67.14 m (220 ft 3 in) | Mac Wilkins | 66.14 m (216 ft 11 in) | Art Burns | 65.54 m (215 ft 0 in) |
| Hammer throw | Bill Green | 73.24 m (240 ft 3 in) | Jud Logan | 72.48 m (237 ft 9 in) | Ed Burke | 71.82 m (235 ft 7 in) |
| Javelin throw | Duncan Atwood | 93.44 m (306 ft 6 in) | Tom Petranoff | 84.94 m (278 ft 8 in) | Steve Roller | 83.00 m (272 ft 3 in) |
| Decathlon | John Crist | 8102 | Tim Bright | 8098 | Jim Wooding | 8072 |

### Women
#### Women track events

| Event | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| 100 meters Wind -0.6 | Evelyn Ashford | 11.18 | Alice Brown | 11.20 | Jeanette Bolden | 11.24 |
| 200 meters Wind -0.2 | Valerie Brisco-Hooks | 22.16 | Florence Griffith | 22.40 | Randy Givens | 22.59 |
| 400 meters | Chandra Cheeseborough | 49.28 NR | Valerie Brisco-Hooks | 49.79 | Lillie Leatherwood | 50.19 |
| 800 meters | Kim Gallagher | 1:58.50 | Ruth Wysocki | 1:59.34 | Robin Campbell | 1:59.77 |
| 1500 meters | Ruth Wysocki | 4:00.18 | Mary Decker | 4:00.40 | Diana Richburg | 4:04.07 |
| 3000 meters | Mary Decker | 8:34.91 | Cindy Bremser | 8:41.19 | Joan Hansen | 8:41.43 |
| 5000 meters | Julie Brown | 15:39.50 |
| 10,000 meters | Joan Benoit | 32:07.41 |
| 100 m hurdles Wind -0.9 | Kim Turner | 13.12 | Benita Fitzgerald | 13.13 | Pam Page | 13.13 |
| 400 m hurdles | Judi Brown | 54.93 NR | Augie Wright | 55.33 | Sharrieffa Barksdale | 55.50 |
| 10 km walk | Esther Lopez | 50:41.18 |
| Marathon | Joan Benoit | 2:31:04 | Julie Brown | 2:31:41 | Julie Isphording | 2:32:26 |

#### Women field events

| Event | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| High jump | Louise Ritter | 1.92 m (6 ft 3+1⁄2 in) | Pam Spencer | 1.89 m (6 ft 2+1⁄4 in) | Joni Huntley | 1.89 m (6 ft 2+1⁄4 in) |
| Long jump | Carol Lewis | 6.89 m (22 ft 7+1⁄4 in) +0.3 | Jackie Joyner | 6.65 m (21 ft 9+3⁄4 in) -0.5 | Angela Thacker | 6.56 m (21 ft 6+1⁄4 in) -0.5 |
| Shot put | Lorna Griffin | 17.10 m (56 ft 1 in) | Carol Cady | 16.96 m (55 ft 7+1⁄2 in) | Ramona Pagel | 16.95 m (55 ft 7+1⁄4 in) |
| Discus throw | Leslie Deniz | 61.76 m (202 ft 7 in) | Laura DeSnoo | 58.08 m (190 ft 6 in) | Lorna Griffin | 57.36 m (188 ft 2 in) |
| Javelin throw | Karin Smith | 61.18 m (200 ft 8 in) | Lynda Sutfin | 58.08 m (190 ft 6 in) | Cathy Sulinski | 55.64 m (182 ft 6 in) |
| Heptathlon | Jackie Joyner | 6520 NR | Jodi Anderson | 6413 | Cindy Greiner | 6204 |