Johnson, Rafer

in full Rafer Lewis Johnson

Rafer Johnson, putting the shot in the Olympic decathlon, 1960
AP/Wide World Photos

(born August 18, 1935, Hillsboro, Texas, U.S.) American athlete who won a gold medal in the decathlon at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome.

Johnson competed in his first decathlon in 1954 as a sophomore at the University of California, Los Angeles, and in 1955 he won the gold medal at the Pan American Games. Injuries prevented him from winning the 1956 Olympic decathlon in Melbourne, Australia, but he set a world record in 1958. In 1960, the closest decathlon in Olympic history, Johnson scored 8,392 points, winning by only 58 points over his nearest competitor. At that Olympiad Johnson became the first black to carry the U.S. flag in the Olympic procession. He received the James E. Sullivan Memorial Award as the outstanding amateur athlete of 1960. He later became a sports commentator and a business executive. He made a dramatic appearance to light the torch signaling the opening of the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.