Silvio Leonard

Silvio Leonard Sarría also known as Silvio Leonard Tartabull (born September 20, 1955, in Cienfuegos) is a former sprinter from Cuba.

Silvio Leonard

Personal information
Born	(1955-09-20) September 20, 1955 (age 69) Cienfuegos, Cienfuegos, Cuba [1]
Height	1.73 m (5 ft 8 in) [1]
Weight	64 kg (141 lb)[1]
Achievements and titles
Personal bests	100 m: 09.98 s[1] NR 200 m: 20.06 s[1]
Medal record Men's Athletics Representing  Cuba Olympic Games 1980 Moscow 100 metres Pan American Games 1975 Mexico City 100 metres 1979 San Juan 100 metres 1979 San Juan 200 metres 1983 Caracas 4 x 100 metres Central American and Caribbean Games 1974 Santo Domingo 100 metres 1974 Santo Domingo 200 metres 1978 Medellín 100 metres 1978 Medellín 200 metres Summer Universiade 1977 Sofia 100 metres 1973 Moscow 100 metres 1977 Sofia 200 metres Central American and Caribbean Championships 1977 Ponce 200 metres 1973 Maracaibo 200 metres 1977 Ponce 100 metres 1981 Santo Domingo 100 metres Friendship Games 1984 Moscow 4 x 100 metres Representing Americas IAAF World Cup 1979 Montreal 200 metres 1979 Montreal 4 x 100 metres 1979 Montreal 100 metres 1977 Düsseldorf 100 metres 1977 Düsseldorf 200 metres 1977 Düsseldorf 4 x 100 metres

Career

Leonard first announced his talent when he set a new Cuban 100 metres national junior record in 1973 with a time of 10.24 s. Leonard was successful in the 1974 Central American and Caribbean Games winning the 100 and 200 metres double.^[2] He came to the attention of the world when he equalled the then world record for a 100 metres with a hand-timing of 9.9 s on 5 June 1975 in Ostrava, Czechoslovakia.^{[2][3][note 1]}

Leonard was three-time Pan American Games champion, 1975 100 and 1979 100/200. When winning the title in 1975 he suffered a calamity that could seem comical if it were not for the fact that the outcome for Leonard could have been even worse. Whilst celebrating his win, he fell into the moat around the track at the Estadio Olímpico Universitario in Mexico City.^[4] The injury he suffered to his back required surgery and severely hampered his preparations for the 1976 Olympics.^[2] In the race itself, Leonard defeated the Trinidadian Hasely Crawford who was to win the Olympic 100 metres title the following year.

Leonard did recover in time to compete at the 1976 Montreal Olympics but there suffered another misfortune. He cut his left leg on broken glass in the Olympic Village. The injury badly affected his running and he was eliminated in the quarter-finals.^[2]

In 1977, Leonard was at the peak of his powers. He became the second athlete to run the 100 metres in less than 10 seconds with electronic timing, running in 9.98 s on August 11 in Guadalajara (the first was 1968 Olympic champion Jim Hines), nowadays Leonard stands as the only Spanish-speaking 10-second barrier athlete. Leonard also had good speed endurance which he proved when he was the fastest in the world that year in the 200 metres with a time of 20.08 s.^[2] At the inaugural Athletics World Cup that year, Leonard won bronze in both the 100 and 200 metres whilst representing the Americas. On 13 September he equaled the low-altitude world best time for the 100 m of 10.03 s originally set by Jim Hines at the 1968 AAU National Championships commonly known as the "Night of Speed".^{[5][note 2]} He also won the 1977 100-metre Gold at the World Student Games.

In 1978 he successfully defended his double Golds in the 100/200 metres at the Central American and Caribbean Games. He also set a personal best and world's fastest time at the 200 metres of 20.06 s on 19 June in Warsaw.

In 1979, at the second Athletics World Cup he won the 200 metres and was runner-up in the 100 metres. He was also Cuban champion and won the Soviet 100 metres championship that year.

At the 1980 Summer Olympics Leonard won a silver medal in 100 metres, finishing behind Allan Wells of Great Britain. He then went on to finish 4th in the Olympic 200 metres final in a time of 20.30, narrowly missing out on another medal.

Leonard was never a factor at world level after the 1980 season and disappointingly there has been no legacy of world-class Cuban sprinters to follow him and his 100 and 200 metres bests are still Cuban records.^{[note 3]}

He retired in 1985 and is reportedly now a track coach.^[6]

International competitions

Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Event	Notes
Representing  Cuba
1973	Central American and Caribbean Championships	Maracaibo, Venezuela	1st	200 m	20.3 (w)
			2nd	4 × 100 m relay	40.2
	Universiade	Moscow, Soviet Union	2nd	100 m	10.43
			7th	200 m	21.11
1974	Central American and Caribbean Games	Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic	1st	100 m	10.49
			1st	200 m	20.99
			1st	4 × 100 m relay	39.62
1975	Pan American Games	Mexico City, Mexico	1st	100 m	10.15
1976	Olympic Games	Montreal, Canada	19th (qf)	100 m	10.59
			5th	4 × 100 m relay	39.01
1977	Central American and Caribbean Championships	Xalapa, Mexico	2nd	100 m	10.43
			1st	200 m	20.70
			1st	4 × 100 m relay	39.86
	Universiade	Sofia, Bulgaria	1st	100 m	10.08
			2nd	200 m	20.64
			4th	4 × 100 m relay	39.31
	World Cup	Düsseldorf, West Germany	3rd	100 m	10.191
			3rd	200 m	20.301
			3rd	4 × 100 m relay	38.561
1978	Central American and Caribbean Games	Medellín, Colombia	1st	100 m	10.10
			1st	200 m	20.49
			2nd	4 × 100 m relay	39.44
1979	Spartakiad	Moscow, Soviet Union	1st	100 m	10.30
	Pan American Games	San Juan, Puerto Rico	1st	100 m	10.13
			1st	200 m	20.37 (w)
			2nd	4 × 100 m relay	39.14
	World Cup	Montreal, Canada	2nd	100 m	10.261
			1st	200 m	20.341
			1st	4 × 100 m relay	38.701
1980	Olympic Games	Moscow, Soviet Union	2nd	100 m	10.25
			4th	200 m	20.30
			–	4 × 100 m relay	DNF
1981	Central American and Caribbean Championships	Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic	2nd	100 m	10.34
			3rd	4 × 100 m relay	39.96
1983	Pan American Games	Caracas, Venezuela	2nd	4 × 100 m relay	38.55

¹Representing the Americas

Notes

1. From 1 January 1977, imperial distances were no longer recognised for world-record purposes by the IAAF.
2. The IAAF world records take no account of altitude of the record's venue. However, as it is recognised that sprint events are assisted by altitude, due to decreased air resistance, a separate list is kept of best marks at sea level when they are inferior to the actual world record.
3. As of October 2012.

Rankings

Leonard was ranked among the best in the world in both the 100 and 200 m sprint events over the incredible spread of 8 seasons from 1973 to 1980, according to the votes of the experts of Track and Field News.^[7][8]

World Rankings Year 100 m 200 m 1973 9th - 1974 1st 1st 1975 4th 7th 1976 - - 1977 4th 4th 1978 1st 4th 1979 2nd 2nd 1980 3rd 7th

Awards

In 2003, Leonard was inducted into the Central American and Caribbean Athletics Hall of Fame.^[9][10]

References

1. Silvio Leonard at Sports Reference Sports Reference, Silvio Leonard. Retrieved 25 February 2012.
2. http://moti-athletics-4x1-m.blogspot.co.uk/search?q=leonard "When did Cuba become a Powerhouse in Athletics", Never Dropped the Baton, April 21, 2012. Retrieved 21 October 2012.
3. Progression of IAAF World Records 2011 Edition, Editor Imre Matrahazi, IAAF Athletics, p 28.
4. https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1454&dat=19751014&id=SrgsAAAAIBAJ&sjid=4AkEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4201,3015183 "Cuban sprinter hurt as U.S. takes Pan-American lead", Star News, October 14, 1975.
5. Progression of IAAF World Records 2011 Edition, Editor Imre Matrahazi, IAAF Athletics, p 33.
6. http://www.athlecac.org/HallofFame/silvioleonard.htm Silvio LEONARD SARRÍA , Hall of Fame, AthleCAC.org. Retrieved 21 October 2012.
7. "World Rankings Index--Men's 100 meters" (PDF). Track and Field News. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-06-09.
8. "World Rankings Index--Men's 200 meters" (PDF). Track and Field News. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-09-14. Retrieved 2012-10-25.
9. http://www.all-athletics.com/hu/2010-01-06/eleven-athletes-and-coaches-be-inducted-cacac-hall-fame "Eleven athletes and coaches to be inducted into CACAC Hall of Fame", all-athletics.com, 6 January 2010. Retrieved 29 October 2012.
10. http://www.iaaf.org/news/Kind=2/newsId=30529.html "14 to be inducted into the CAC Hall of Fame", iaaf.org, IAAF, 20 July 2005. Retrieved 29 October 2012.

External links

• Leading Marks by Year
• Silvio Leonard at Olympics at Sports-Reference.com (archived)

Sporting positions
Preceded by Millard Hampton	Men's 200m Best Year Performance 1977	Succeeded by Clancy Edwards