Chris Nelloms

Chris Nelloms (born August 14, 1971) is an American male former track and field sprinter who specialized in the 200- and 400-meter dash.

He attended Dunbar High School in Dayton and set several high school records.[1] He originally competed in both sprints and hurdling and a national high school record of 13.30 seconds for the 110-meter hurdles in 1990 led him to be chosen as Track & Field News' High School Athlete of the Year.[2] With a relay gold at the 1988 World Junior Championships in Athletics and three sprint golds at the 1990 World Junior Championships in Athletics, he has won the most titles in the history of the IAAF World Junior Championships.[3] He also managed to win a gold medal triple at the 1989 Pan American Junior Athletics Championships, topping the podium in the 400 m, 4 × 100-meter relay and 4 × 400-meter relay.[4]

In August 1992 he was shot in the back in a park in Dayton, Ohio, where he had been completing a fitness run. The shot hit an artery, broke his collarbone and punctured a lung, yet he managed to return to good health and race again. No one was charged with the shooting.[5]

He won back-to-back 200 m titles at the NCAA Men's Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships in 1992 to 1993.[6] At the 1993 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships he won the 200 m and 4 × 400 m relay titles, as well as taking a bronze in the 4 × 100 m relay.[7] As a result, he was named the Ohio State Buckeyes male athlete of the year – only the third track athlete to win that title after Olympic medalists Butch Reynolds and Joe Greene.[8] He took a 200 m silver medal at the 1993 Summer Universiade the following month, finishing behind his teammate Brian Bridgewater.[9]

Nelloms took his first national title at the USA Indoor Track and Field Championships in 1994, winning the 200 m race.[10] He ranked second in the world on time for that indoor season behind Olympic champion Linford Christie.[11]

His promising track career came to an end when he was convicted of one count of felonious sexual penetration and seven counts of rape against his daughter, who was between the ages of 8 and 11 years old at the time of the offences.[12] An appeal was rejected in 2001 and he was incarcerated at Warren Correctional Institution, serving four consecutive life sentences. The state of Ohio only had jurisdiction to judge incidents that occurred in Dayton, though further incidents occurred in Lexington, Kentucky.[13] An interview with Nelloms was published in the Dayton Daily News in 2006, in which he proclaimed his innocence.[14] In response the victim, Terria Pitts, decided to waive her anonymity and challenge her father, saying: "I wanted to let the public know that Chris Nelloms is not innocent...he's being incarcerated for something he did do. There was evidence. I just want people to know that I'm not a liar."[15]

Personal records

International competitions

Year Competition Venue Position Event Notes
1988 World Junior Championships Sudbury, Canada 1st 4 × 400 m relay 3:05.09
1989 Pan American Junior Championships Santa Fe, Argentina 1st 400 m 46.19
1st 4 × 100 m relay 40.14
1st 4 × 400 m relay 3:11.76
1990 World Junior Championships Plovdiv, Bulgaria 1st 400 m 45.43
1st 4 × 100 m relay 39.13
1st 4 × 400 m relay 3:02.26
1993 Universiade Buffalo, United States 2nd 200 m 20.17

National titles

References

  1. ↑ OHIO HIGH SCHOOL BOYS PROGRESSIVE RECORD LIST-field events, yards & metric running events-no conversions. BGSU. Retrieved 2018-04-10.
  2. ↑ T&FN High School Athletes Of The Year.Track & Field News. Retrieved 2018-04-10.
  3. ↑ IAAF World Junior Championships Eugene 2014 Facts and Figures. IAAF. Retrieved 2018-04-10.
  4. ↑ Pan American Junior Championships 1989. World Junior Athletics History. Retrieved 2018-04-10.
  5. ↑ Hersch, Hank (1993-07-26). Chris Nelloms. Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 2018-04-10.
  6. ↑ NCAA Division I Indoor Championships (Men). GBR Athletics. Retrieved 2018-04-10.
  7. ↑ http://web1.ncaa.org/ncaa/archives/otrack/d1/1993/results1993.pdf
  8. ↑ Basford, Michael (2016-06-13). Kyle Snyder named Ohio State Male Athlete of the Year. Ohio Buckeyes. Retrieved 2018-04-10.
  9. ↑ World Student Games (Men). GBR Athletics. Retrieved 2018-04-10.
  10. ↑ USA Indoor Championships. GBR Athletics. Retrieved 2018-04-10.
  11. ↑ World Top Performers Indoor. GBR Athletics. Retrieved 2018-04-10.
  12. ↑ Ex-OSU Star Gets Life For Rape. CBS News (1999-02-12). Retrieved on 2018-04-10.
  13. ↑ The STATE of Ohio, Appellee, v. NELLOMS, Appellant.* No. 18421. Court of Appeals of Ohio,Second District, Montgomery County (2001-06-01). Retrieved on 2018-04-10.
  14. ↑ Gokavi, Mark (2006-05-30). Former track star says he's innocent, but regrets not taking plea agreement. Dayton Daily News. Retrieved on 2018-04-10.
  15. ↑ Gokavi, Mark (2006-08-13). Father's denials of rape enrage woman. Dayton Daily News. Retrieved on 2018-04-10.
Awards
Preceded by
Dion Bentley		 Track & Field News High School Boys Athlete of the Year
1990		 Succeeded by
Bryan Bronson
Preceded by
Jim Jackson		 Ohio State Athlete of the Year
1993		 Succeeded by
Chris Sanders
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.