From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Joaquim Carvalho Cruz (born March 12, 1963) is
a former Brazilian athlete, winner of the 800 m at the 1984
Summer Olympics. He is one of only three men to run the 800 m in less than
1:42.
Cruz was born in Taguatinga, near BrasÃlia, as the son of a steel worker. He
began running as a 13-year-old, and soon showed astonishing talent
as a junior. At the age of only 15 his personal best over 800 m
stood at 1:51 min. After setting a junior world record of 1:44.3 min in 1981, he
received a scholarship for the University of Oregon in 1983. The
move immediately paid off, and Cruz won the NCAA
championships over 800 m that same year. He also competed in the inaugural World
Championships, winning the bronze.
The following year, the Olympic Games were held in Los Angeles, and Cruz
was considered to be one of the favorites, along with world record holder
Sebastian Coe of
Britain. In the final turn, Cruz started a sprint from third place
and took the lead, never losing it. He crossed the line in 1:43.00,
a new Olympic Record, making him the first Brazilian Olympic track
and field gold medalist since triple jumper Adhemar Ferreira da Silva won both in 1952 and 1956.
Due to a cold, Cruz did not start in the semi-finals of the
Olympic 1500 m, which caused quite a stir among the Brazilians, who
thought he didn't want to represent his country in an event in
which his chances of winning were smaller.
A few weeks after the Olympic Games, Cruz ran a new Brazilian
800 m record at a meeting in Cologne. His time of 1:41.77 was only four
hundredths of a second outside the world record. He is still the
third fastest athlete in the history of the event. Also in 1984 he
ran a time of 2:14.09 min over 1000 m in Nice which is still the current South American
record over that distance. In 1985 Cruz confirmed the excellent
results of the previous year by running sub-1:43 times in Europe.
In the following two years he was struggling with injuries.
At the 1988 Summer Olympics, Cruz
appeared to be on his way to retain his Olympic 800 m title when he
was passed by Kenyan runner Paul Ereng, leaving Cruz
with the silver medal. Troubled by Achilles' tendon
injuries, Cruz was never again able to reach the international top
level. In 1993, he tried to make a comeback and started over 1500 m
at various Grand Prix races in Europe but failed to make a major
impact.
Cruz was a torchbearer and lit the flame cauldron at the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro,
on July 13, 2007.
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