World Record

[DoubleRBar]

Happy 59th birthday today (Wednesday) to an Olympic champion who also won three World Championship gold medals and competed in two Olympic Games.

This athlete was born approximately 1,975 miles (3,180 km) from the Olympic stadium where our birthday person won that Olympic gold medal.

The country where this champion was born and the country where this athlete won Olympic gold both speak the same language.

Our birthday athlete and another Olympic champion who competed in one of the two Olympic Games that featured our birthday champion both share the same initials.

No hurdles were involved in our birthday athlete's Olympic events, however I can't say the same for this other Olympic champion (sharing the same initials).

Can you name our birthday champion for this second Wednesday of 2020? Please give it a try.

[bambam1729]

Won't reveal it because I looked it up but he won 4 WC golds, not 3.

[tandfman]

Won't reveal it because I looked it up but he won 4 WC golds, not 3.

Are you sure? By my count he won only 3.

[DoubleRBar]

Thank you, tandfman. Our birthday athlete won three World Championship gold medals and one World Championship silver medal. For additional help, I can tell you that this birthday person won an Olympic bronze medal.

[Pego]

I think I might have a decent guess. Is his son a pretty good long sprinter, but nowhere in his class?

[thedoorknobbroke]

a hunch that this runner won most or all medals as a relay participant

[DoubleRBar]

Pego and thedoorknobbroke are on the "right track" (fast track).

[Olli]

I couldn't figure this out even by doing research, but perhaps thedoorknobbroke referred to a possibility I overlooked. If (s)he was born 1961, (s)he probably won in 1984, 1988, or 1992. Since there are few countries that speak Korean (and no North Korean won in Seoul), it must have been an English-speaker in Los Angeles or a Spanish-speaker in Barcelona, like Sotomayor. However, I think Sotomayor was featured in a birthday quiz some months ago. Moreover, I think Cuba and other Latin American countries are more than 3,180 km away from Barcelona.

This suggests it was an English-speaker in Los Angeles. There seems to be an obvious choice for a relatively nearby English-speaking country (even though a minority in that country might disagree). However, it even occurred to me that the mystery athlete might be from somethning like eastern USA, if DoubleRBar was sly enough, since that would technically speaking fit the clue "The country where this champion was born and the country where this athlete won Olympic gold both speak the same language."

[DoubleRBar]

Very good, Olli.

[Olli]

Now I think I figured it out. That WAS sly!

[DoubleRBar]

Thank you, Olli.

[thedoorknobbroke]

No Canadian golds in LA, unless...were the gold medal winning USA women's 4X1 or 4x4 relays later DQ'd? Just wondering...I don't have access to any sources of info that would include this.

[DoubleRBar]

You're right, thedoorknobbroke. There were no gold medals for Canadian track and field in 1984.

[Master403]

Given all the accumulated clues, doesn't it have to be Calvin Smith?
It also occurs to me that he set his world record in a city that shares his initials. That can't be too common, but you guys will probably come up with a dozen other examples.

[thedoorknobbroke]

I second Master403 motion: Calvin Smith it has to be.