medaltemplates article_title birth_date
men 's athletics larry myricks
 10 march 1956
larry myricks

larry myricks -lrb- born 10 march 1956 in clinton , mississippi -rrb- was an american athlete , who mainly competed in the men 's long jump event .
a durable jumper , myricks first broke onto the track scene in 1976 .
while competing for mississippi college , he was the ncaa champion in the long jump .
he followed that with a second place at the u. s. olympic trials , beating defending olympic champion randy williams in the process .
at the 1976 olympics , he broke his foot while warming up for the final and was unable to compete .
his teammates arnie robinson and williams finished 1 and 2 .
the three american jumpers had been easily the top three jumpers in qualifying .
in 1979 he won again the ncaa championship , this time both indoors and outdoors .
he was also the us national champion -lrb- 27 -- 2 -rrb- , and world cup champion -lrb- 8.52 m -rrb- .
he repeated as u.s. national champion in 1980 and in 1989 .
he competed for the united states at the 1988 summer olympics held in seoul , south korea , where he won the bronze medal in the men 's long jump competition .
in addition to the 1976 olympics , myricks won the 1980 olympic trials -lrb- over a young carl lewis -rrb- , the team that did not go to the olympics due to the 1980 summer olympics boycott .
he finished second to lewis in the 1984 olympic trials .
he finished fourth in the olympics that year .
he set his personal best of 8.74 m -lrb- 28 ' 8 '' -rrb- in the long jump at the 1988 olympic trials .
that jump still ranks myricks as the number 5 long jumper ever .
it was the trials record , for a few minutes , until surpassed by carl lewis .
after qualifying for four straight olympic teams , myricks returned in 1992 as a 36-year-old to a fifth olympic trials , finishing in seventh place .
myricks was the third-place jumper at the 1991 world championships in athletics - men 's long jump when lewis and mike powell were fighting over the world record , what many consider the greatest long jump competition ever .
based on a statistical comparison of 8.16 meters , myricks had more competitions -lrb- 170 -rrb- over that mark than any other competitor .
moving that comparison to 8.50 m , he ranks second -lrb- 17 -rrb- to carl lewis -lrb- 39 -rrb- -lrb- as of 1996 ; since 1996 , only 9 jumpers have jumped 8.50 -rrb- .
myricks ' last 8.50 in 1991 , at the age of 35 , is tied with lewis ' mark from the 1996 olympics as the m35 masters world record .
he was also a useful 200 m sprinter , with a best of 20.03 s at the us national championships in 1983 behind his nemesis carl lewis , who along with mike powell overshadowed him for most of his career .
he ran the 200 at the 1983 world championships in athletics .
myricks won the u.s. nationals in the 200 meters in 1988 .
myricks is also a graduate of mississippi college .
he was coached there by joe walker -lrb- now at ole miss -rrb- .
larry myricks was suspended -lrb- may 1990 -rrb- by the tac after a positive test for a banned stimulant before the 1990 u.s. championships .
this suspension was extended to a lifetime ban for two subsequent positive tests .
he was later reinstated after having served only one year .
