James Butts
 Butts at the 1976 Olympics | |||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | James Aaron Butts | ||||||||||||||||
| Born | May 9, 1950 (age 71) South Los Angeles, California, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||
| Height | 188 cm (6 ft 2 in) | ||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 82 kg (181 lb) | ||||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Athletics | ||||||||||||||||
| Event(s) | Triple jump | ||||||||||||||||
| Club | Tobias Striders | ||||||||||||||||
| Achievements and titles | |||||||||||||||||
| Personal best(s) | 17.24 m (1978)[1][2] | ||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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James Aaron Butts (born May 9, 1950) is a retired American triple jumper. He won a silver medal at the 1976 Olympics and a bronze at the 1979 Pan American Games.[1] He was inducted into the UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame in 2014.
Butts won the 1976 U.S. Olympic Trials with a wind-aided 17.29 m, just short of the existing world record at the time. He narrowly missed making the team in 1972 and again in 1980, finishing in fourth place each time (the last time by a mere 1 cm).[2][3]
Butts won the 1972 NCAA Men's Outdoor Track and Field Championships while competing for the University of California at Los Angeles. While training for the Olympics, he worked two jobs including as a janitor, to support his mother and sister. He had to train at 5 am as it was the only time that fit his schedule.[1]
References[]
- ^ a b c Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "James Butts". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on June 15, 2011.
- ^ a b James Butts. trackfield.brinkster.net
- ^ Hymans, Richard (2004) The history of the U.S. Olympic trials : track & field Archived March 27, 2016, at the Wayback Machine. USA Track & Field
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- American male triple jumpers
- Olympic silver medalists for the United States in track and field
- Athletes (track and field) at the 1976 Summer Olympics
- Athletes (track and field) at the 1979 Pan American Games
- Living people
- 1950 births
- UCLA Bruins men's track and field athletes
- Track and field athletes from Los Angeles
- Medalists at the 1976 Summer Olympics
- Pan American Games medalists in athletics (track and field)
- Pan American Games bronze medalists for the United States
- Medalists at the 1979 Pan American Games
- American track and field athletics Olympic medalist stubs