Murphy Chases Down Olympic 800m Bronze Medal

Published by GoZips on August 15, 2016

Parlayed by his patented finishing kick, former Akron All-American Clayton Murphy became the first United States men's 800-meter runner to win an Olympic medal since 1992, chasing down the bronze medal over the final 100 meters on the strength of the fifth-fastest time, 1:42.93, in American history, at the XXXI Summer Olympics on Monday, Aug. 15.

Murphy's effort shattered his previous career-best time of 1:44.30 set in the semifinal round on Saturday, Aug. 13, and enabled him to be the third-fastest American ever. Johnny Gray owns the top-three times of 1:42.60 (8/28/1985), 1:42.65 (8/17/88) and 1:42.80 (6/24/92) in American history, followed by Duane Solomon, 1:42.82 (8/9/12) and Murphy.

Murphy became the first United States men's runner to win an Olympic 800-meter medal since Gray in Barcelona, Spain in 1992, three years before Murphy was born.