Charles Greene (athlete)

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Charles Greene
Charles Greene 1970.jpg
Charles Greene in 1970
Personal information
Born (1945-03-21) March 21, 1945 (age 69)
Pine Bluff, Arkansas, United States
Height 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Weight 69 kg (152 lb)
Sport Sprint
Club Cornhusker Track Club

Charles (Charlie) Edward Greene (born March 21, 1945) is a retired American track and field sprinter, winner of the gold medal in 4×100-meter relay at the 1968 Summer Olympics.

Born in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, Greene was considered a certain candidate for the 1964 Olympic team, but he suffered a muscle pull that held him to a sixth place at the Olympic Trials.

Greene won the AAU championships in 100-yard dash in 1966 and in 100-meter dash in 1968. At the 1968 AAU Championships, Greene tied the 100 m world record twice. First in the heats he equaled the world record of 10.0, then in the second semifinal he ran 9.9, the same time which had been run by Jim Hines and Ronnie Ray Smith in the previous race. The evening when three men equaled the world record (and several others were very close), June 20, 1968 at Hughes Stadium in Sacramento, California has been dubbed by track and field historians as the "Night of Speed."[1][2] As a University of Nebraska student, Greene won the NCAA championships in 100 yd from 1965 to 1967 and tied the world record at 9.1.

At the Mexico Olympics, Greene felt pain in his hamstring late in the race and was third in the 100 m. He was the fastest man in the trials and semifinals but before the final race he was injured but started anyway with a bandaged leg. Despite the injury, he also led off the American 4x100 m relay team that won the gold medal and set a new world record of 38.19.

Following his athletic career, Greene became an Army officer, serving as sprint coach at West Point and head coach of the All-Army team. After retiring from the Army, he became a director for Special Olympics International.

In 2007, Charles Greene became the sprints coach at Lincoln Northeast High School in Lincoln, Nebraska. He coached multiple state qualifiers in his first year along with the states 3rd place 4x400 relay team of Logan Reising, Brian May, Tory Berks, and AJ Robinson.