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Frankie Fredericks
Frankie Fredericks is the Olympics ?nearly man? but has never had the opportunity to see the shine of an Olympic gold medal.
Born: October 02, 1967
Country: Namibia
Height: 183 cm
Events: Track and Field (100m, 200m, Relays)
Olympic Record:
1992 Barcelona Games: 2nd in 100m, 2nd in 200m
1996 Atlanta Games: 2nd in 100m, 2nd in 200m
He is the Olympics ‘nearly man’ and has never had the opportunity to see the shine of an Olympic gold medal.
He has only won one gold during numerous world championship competitions but his record of both sub 10-second times and sub 20-second times (for the 100m and 200m respectively) are evidence that he is undoubtedly Namibia's greatest athletics export.
He has a computing degree and is one of the popular track stars who has paid for his own tours to save his country’s economy.
He gave his country its first world championship medal, finishing second in the 200m - the first African sprint medal at a world competition since 1964. The Barcelona Olympic Games (1992) proved fruitful for him as he returned with two silver medals won in both sprint events. Hopes had also been raised in the 200m when in Oslo a few weeks before the Atlanta Olympics he ended Michael Johnson's two-year undefeated record.
In Atlanta, however, Johnson produced arguably the greatest performance in athletics history to run 19.32, a world record which seems set to stand for 50 years.
Even though he lost Fredericks had a street named after him in Windhoek in recognition of his achievement.
He was optimistic for a gold medal at Sydney 2000 but injuries prevented him from competing at major events and he missed the chance at Australia as well as the 2001 world championships in Edmonton.
But soon after he was back to full fitness for the 2003 world championships in Paris where he disappointed his feats in the 200m final and finishing at 7th position.
Fredericks still holds the second fastest 200m time ever (19sec 68sec at Atlanta 96) behind American great Michael Johnson, won silver at the African Games 200m in October 2003 and will be 36-years-old at Athens 2004.
