Diane Williams (born 1960) is a retired World class sprinter who ran 100 m and 4x100 m relays. She was born 14 December 1960 in Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.
Williams qualified for the 1980 U.S. Olympic team but was unable to compete due to the 1980 Summer Olympics boycott. In 2007 she did receive one of 461 Congressional Gold Medals created especially for the spurned athletes.[2]
World Athletics Championships
Her best performances came in the first two World Athletics Championships in 1983 and 1987. In Helsinki in 1983 she was a Bronze medallist over 100 m. In 1987 she was fourth over 100 m and won gold as part of the 4x100 relay team, their winning time of 41.58 CBP secs is still one of the fastest in history. In 1988, she was 2nd to Florence Griffith Joyner's world record time of 10.49 in the 100m.
Aftermath
Diane has admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs during her career in the era preceding random out-of-competition testing.[citation needed] However, she managed to compete without the use of drugs through the 1987 season and ran faster than ever. She now tours schools where she relates her abuse of steroids and the struggle to regain her health in the aftermath of her career. An autobiography, True to Me, was published a few years ago which chronicles the aforementioned battle to perform clean at the highest level.
^Caroccioli, Tom; Caroccioli, Jerry (2008). Boycott: Stolen Dreams of the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games. Highland Park, IL: New Chapter Press. pp. 243–253. ISBN978-0942257403.
