Jim Hines, who won two gold medals at the Olympics and was the first man to run the 100 meters in under 10 seconds, passed away on Saturday at the age of 76, according to World Athletics.
Before running the first electronically timed 100m under 10 seconds at the Olympic Games in Mexico City, Hines ran a hand-timed 100m dash in 9.9 seconds at the US Championships in Sacramento in June 1968, according to USA Track and Field (USATF).
His world record earned him his first individual Olympic gold medal.
The time (9:95 seconds) stood as the 100-meter world record for 15 years before Calvin Smith broke it in 1983.
According to World Athletics, the world’s governing body for track and field, this is the longest the 100-meter record has stood during the fully automated era.
At the same Olympics, Hines also triumphed in the 4x100m, anchoring the US team to victory in a time of 38.24 seconds and setting a world record.
Despite being an Arkansas native, the sprinter spent his formative years in Oakland, California, according to USATF.
In 1979, he was inducted into the USATF Hall of Fame.
He competed in track at Texas Southern University, where he was inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame in 1986.
After his career in track, Hines played two seasons of National Football League (NFL) football, first for the Miami Dolphins in 1969 and then for the Kansas City Chiefs in 1970.
Source-CNN
