Lee Evans (athlete)

Lee Edward Evans (born February 25, 1947) is a former American athlete, winner of two gold medals at the 1968 Summer Olympics.

Born in Madera, California, Evans was undefeated in high school and won his first AAU championship in 440 yd (402.34 m) in 1966, shortly after graduating. He repeated his win in next year and won AAU and NCAA 400 m titles in 1968.

Lee Evans achieved his first world record at 1966, as a member of the US national team which broke the 4 x 400 m relay record at Los Angeles, the first team to better 3 minutes (2:59.6) for the event. The next year he broke the 4 x 220 yd (201.17 m) relay world record at Fresno in a time of 1:22.1.

Evans won the 1968 Olympic trials with a world record 44.0 and demolished it in Olympic final, winning in time 43.86. Evans won a second gold as the anchorman on the 4 x 400 m relay team, setting another world record of 2:56.16. Both the times stood as a world record for 20 years.

After winning the AAU 400 m titles in 1969 and 1972, Evans finished only fourth in the 1972 Olympic trials, but was named a member of the 4 x 400 m relay team once more. However, the United States couldn't field a team because Vincent Matthews and Wayne Collett were suspended, for a demonstration at a medal ceremony like Tommie Smith and John Carlos in the previous Olympics. Evans became a professional after the 1972 season. He was reinstated as an amateur in 1980 and ran a 46.5 in one of his few appearances that year, at the age of thirty-three. Evans went on to head the national athletics programs in six different African Nations before accepting a position as head cross country/track & field coach at the University of South Alabama.

Upon fulfilling his contract, Evans plans to return to either Africa or Mexico where "you are truly free - not like this fake freedom America has everybody believing in."

Evans' college and amateur careers as well as his involvement in the Civil Rights Movement is chronicled in Frank Murphy's