 Valerie Brisco-Hooks during the CCCAA State Championships in May 2012 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | (1960-07-06) July 6, 1960 (age 64) Greenwood, Mississippi | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Country |  United States | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Coached by | Bob Kersee | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Valerie Brisco-Hooks (born Valerie Ann Brisco; July 6, 1960, in Greenwood, Mississippi) is an Olympian who won three gold medals as an Olympic track and field athlete at the 1984 Olympics at Los Angeles, California, making her the first Olympian to win gold medals in both the 200- and 400-meter races at a single Olympics.
Career
Brisco-Hooks' outstanding high school performance led her to the collegiate level of track and field at California State University, Northridge. She continued to excel, winning the 200-meter title at the Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) Championships and earning a spot on the U.S. team for the 1979 Pan American Games, where she helped her 4 × 100-meter relay team win the gold medal.
Her 400 metres time of 48.83, set while winning the 1984 Olympics was at the time the Olympic record and still ranks her as the thirteenth fastest woman of all time. She also won a gold medal for the 4 × 400 m. Brisco competed in the 1988 Olympic Games, which took place in Seoul, South Korea, running on the American 4x400 meter-relay team, which finished in second place (but below the older record, also), behind the Soviet team that broke the 4x400 meter-relay world record. To this date, the American time possesses the second-fastest 4x400 relay of all time, behind only the Soviet winner of that race. She coached with Bob Kersee's group of athletes and at West Los Angeles College.
Achievements
3 x Olympic Games Gold medallist
1 x Olympic Games Silver medallist
1 x World Championships Bronze medallist
5 x Olympic Games finalist
1 x World Championships finalist
1 x Current NACAC Record holder - 4 × 400 m
Personal Bests
Event Result Wind Venue Date
50m individual 6.24 Rosemont (USA) 16.02.1986
100m 10.99 +1.3 Westwood (USA) 17.05.1986
200m 21.81 -0.1 Los Angeles (USA) 09.08.1984
200m indoor 22.83 New York (USA) 22.02.1985
300m 35.47 Seoul (KOR) 26.09.1988
400m 48.83 Los Angeles (USA) 06.08.1984
400m indoor 52.31 Fairfax (USA) 14.02.1988
4 × 400 m 3:15.51 Seoul (KOR) 01.10.1988
Television guest appearance
Brisco-Hooks guest-starred as herself in "Off to the Races," an episode from the second season of The Cosby Show. She ran against Cliff Huxtable (Bill Cosby) at the Penn Relays, filling in at the last minute for an injured member of a rival team during a relay race.
Personal life
Brisco-Hooks married NFL player Alvin Hooks in 1981. Their son, Alvin Hooks, Jr., was born in 1982.
In 1995, Brisco-Hooks was inducted into the U.S. National Track and Field Hall of Fame.
References
- "Valerie Brisco-Hooks: Track & Field". womentalksports.com. Archived from the original on April 13, 2013.
- "1984 Olympic Women's 400m final - Valerie Brisco-Hooks". YouTube. March 6, 2010. Archived from the original on August 13, 2013.
- "Profile of Valerie BRISCO-HOOKS - All-Athletics.com". www.all-athletics.com. Retrieved August 4, 2017.
- DOWNEY, MIKE (May 18, 1986). "She Plans to Check Out the Fallout in Advance". Retrieved August 4, 2017 – via LA Times.
- "Valerie Ann Brisco-Hooks". Olympics. Retrieved June 8, 2024.
- Castro, Tony. "After The Gold, Some Glitter". Sports Illustrated Vault | SI.com. Retrieved June 8, 2024.
- "Valerie Brisco-Hooks". www.nndb.com. Retrieved August 4, 2017.
- "Sports People: Track and Field;Liquori Chosen for Hall of Fame". The New York Times. November 3, 1995. pp. 237–254.
External links
- SportingHeroes.net article on Valerie Brisco-Hooks
- 1984 Olympic Women's 200 meters
- 1984 Olympic Women's 400 meters
- Image of Valerie Brisco-Hooks showing her Olympic medals to students at West Athens Elementary school in Los Angeles, California, 1984. Los Angeles Times Photographic Archive (Collection 1429). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
- USA Indoor Track and Field Championships winners
- 1960 births
- Living people
- American female sprinters
- Sportspeople from Greenwood, Mississippi
- Athletes (track and field) at the 1984 Summer Olympics
- Athletes (track and field) at the 1988 Summer Olympics
- Olympic gold medalists for the United States in track and field
- Olympic silver medalists for the United States in track and field
- American track and field coaches
- World Athletics Championships medalists
- Track and field athletes from California
- Medalists at the 1988 Summer Olympics
- Medalists at the 1984 Summer Olympics
- Athletes (track and field) at the 1979 Pan American Games
- Athletes (track and field) at the 1987 Pan American Games
- Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States in athletics (track and field)
- Cal State Northridge Matadors women's track and field athletes
- World Athletics Championships athletes for the United States
- Medalists at the 1987 Pan American Games
- Olympic female sprinters
- Locke High School alumni
- 20th-century American sportswomen