Background
Moses was born on August 31, 1955 in Dayton, Ohio, United States. The son of two educators, Moses took academics seriously as a child, but also proved a gifted athlete.
Edwin Moses
Atlanta, Georgia, United States
Morehouse College
Atlanta, Georgia, United States
Edwin Moses and Leroy Walker
California, United States
Pepperdine University
Edwin Moses on the field
September 12, 1983 - Page 1
In the modern Vanity Fair’s first Olympic portfolio, shot by new photographic ingénue Annie Leibovitz, the stars of the 1983 Summer Olympic team showed off their physiques. Here, gold-medal-winning hurdler Edwin Moses poises for action.
1984
Edwin Moses at the 1988 Seoul Summer Olympics
Los Angeles, California, United States
1984
Montreal, Canada
Olympic Games Gold Medal 1976 Montreal
Los Angeles, California, United States
1984
Seoul, South Korea
Olympic Games Bronze Medal 1988
Atlanta, Georgia, United States
Morehouse College
Atlanta, Georgia, United States
Edwin Moses and Leroy Walker
California, United States
Pepperdine University
Edwin Moses on the field
September 12, 1983 - Page 1
In the modern Vanity Fair’s first Olympic portfolio, shot by new photographic ingénue Annie Leibovitz, the stars of the 1983 Summer Olympic team showed off their physiques. Here, gold-medal-winning hurdler Edwin Moses poises for action.
Edwin Moses at the 1988 Seoul Summer Olympics
Los Angeles, California, United States
1984
Montreal, Canada
Olympic Games Gold Medal 1976 Montreal
Los Angeles, California, United States
1984
Seoul, South Korea
Olympic Games Bronze Medal 1988
Moses was born on August 31, 1955 in Dayton, Ohio, United States. The son of two educators, Moses took academics seriously as a child, but also proved a gifted athlete.
Moses competed in cross-country, track, and gridiron football in high school and studied physics at Morehouse College (B.S., 1978) in Atlanta, Georgia. There he first ran the 400-metre race and the 120-yard high hurdles but began running the 400-metre hurdles in 1976. He received his master's degree in business administration from Pepperdine University.
Undaunted from the pressure of simultaneously making his international and Olympic debut in the 400-meter hurdles, Moses blazed to a gold medal in a world-record time of 47.63 seconds at the 1976 Summer Games in Montreal, Canada.
The following summer, Moses lost a race to West Germany's Harald Schmid in what would be his last defeat for almost a decade. He graduated from Morehouse with a bachelor's degree in physics in 1978 and soon devoted himself to running full-time. A lithe but powerful 6'2" and 180 pounds, Moses had the ideal body type and technique to achieve the dominance that would define his legacy.
Despite the U.S. boycott of the 1980 Olympics in Moscow, Russia, Moses made his mark on the sport that year with a new world-record time in the 400-meter hurdles. In 1983, he broke the record again with a career-best time of 47.02 seconds, and made news off the track by joining the Athletics Congress to help curb the spread of anabolic steroids in his sport.
Returning to the Olympics on American home soil in 1984, Moses became just the second man to claim a second Olympic gold medal in the 400-meter hurdles. His legendary winning streak came to an end at 122 races three years later, when fellow American Danny Harris edged him by .11 seconds at an event in Madrid, Spain.
Moses made one final Olympic appearance at the 1988 Summer Games in Seoul, Korea, earning a bronze medal despite delivering a personal-best time in an Olympic final.
After retiring from track, Moses enjoyed some success as a competitive bobsledder. He earned a bronze medal in a World Cup race in 1990, and finished seventh at the 1991 World Championships.
Moses was nominated in 1992 to serve on the International Olympic Committee Medical Commission. The Olympic great attempted a limited comeback to the track in the early 2000s, but mainly devoted his energies to various executive duties.
Edwin Corley Moses is remembered as an American former track and field athlete who won gold medals in the 400 m hurdles at the 1976 and 1984 Olympics. Between 1977 and 1987, Moses won 107 consecutive finals (122 consecutive races) and set the world record in the event four times.
In 1994, Edwin was inducted to the U.S. Track and Field Hall of Fame. In May 2009, the University of Massachusetts Boston awarded Moses an honorary doctorate for his efforts to maintain the integrity of Olympic sports and for his use of sports as a tool for positive social change.
Continuing his earlier work against illicit drug use, Moses pioneered the development of drug policies as head of the United States Olympic Committee's substance abuse, research and education committee.
Edwin is humanitarian and advocate for peace.
Quotations:
“Any individual sport is basically a gladiator sport. Back in the old days, only one guy would walk out of the arena. In track, it's basically the same thing.”
"I always had to keep improving my skills in order to remain competitive and keep winning."
"I didn't get an athletics scholarship at a major school."
"My concentration level blocks out everything. Concentration is why some athletes are better than others. You develop that concentration in training and concentrate in a meet."
"I wanted to go to medical school. But, I never got a college scholarship."
"In digital world, sport provides opportunity to bring people together."
"My father was an all-American football player."
"Lots of people let it go by and never accomplish what they want. I just wanted to see what I could do."
Edwin became chairman of Laureus World Sports Academy, which promotes social change through sports.
Moses is a vegetarian.
Physical Characteristics: His height is 6 ft 2 in (188 cm).
Married Myrella Bordt Moses in 1982. They divorced in 1991. Moses has one son, Julian, born on August 29, 1995, in southern California. He married Michelle Moses in February 2007.
