Vincent Matthews

Who is Vincent Matthews?

Vincent Edward Matthews is an African American former sprinter, winner of two gold medals at the 1968 Summer Olympics and 1972 Summer Olympics.

Matthews was one of the best American long sprinters to appear in the mid-1960s, and developed a fierce rivalry with future Olympic champion Lee Evans. The pair first met in their teens, and then duelled several times in 1967, with Evans coming out on top in the AAU Championships and Pan American Games.

At the warm-up meet two weeks prior to the Olympic Trials in 1968, Matthews set the new world record 44.4 in 400 m, but his time was rejected as a world record due to his use of PUMA's illegal "brush spikes". At the Trials themselves, he was then beaten out of the top three by Evans, Larry James and Ron Freeman.

At the Olympic Games in Mexico City, Matthews ran the first leg on American's gold medal winning 4x400 m relay team that set the world record of 2:56.16, which lasted for 24 years.

After Mexico, Matthews gave up track and field for a year as he struggled with the demands of work and marriage, but worked his way back to full fitness and into contention for the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich. At the Olympic Trials, Vince finished third behind John Smith and Wayne Collett, beating old rival Lee Evans into fourth. In Olympic final, Smith took the early lead but pulled a hamstring after 80 meters; the race turned into a battle between Matthews and Collett, Matthews winning in 44.66, with Collett coming second in 44.80.