Benita Fitzgerald-Brown
Personal information | |
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Born | July 6, 1961 Warrenton, Virginia, U.S. | (age 63)
Medal record |
Benita Fitzgerald Mosley (formerly Benita Fitzgerald-Brown; born July 6, 1961) is a retired American athlete, who mainly competed in the women's 100 metres hurdles event. Currently, Benita is a CEO of the company Multiplying Good with their mission being "to inspire greatness through service to others."
Early life
[edit]A native of Warrenton, Virginia, she grew up in nearby Dale City where at an early age, she began to excel in athletics and academics. After graduating from Gar-Field High School, she attended the University of Tennessee on a full athletic scholarship, where she earned a B.S. in industrial engineering. While at Tennessee, she was a fifteen-time All-American and won 4 NCAA titles, including three 100-meter outdoor hurdles championships.
Olympics
[edit]Benita Fitzgerald qualified for the 1980 U.S. Olympic track and field team but did not compete due to the U.S. Olympic Committee's boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, Russia. She was one of 461 athletes to receive a Congressional Gold Medal instead.[1]
She competed for the United States in the 1984 Summer Olympics held in Los Angeles, where she won the Olympic Gold medal in a time of 12.84 seconds, beating favorite Shirley Strong by 0.04 seconds. Fitzgerald is only the second U.S. woman, after Babe Didrikson, and the first African-American woman, to win a gold medal in the 100-meter hurdles. She was also an alternate for the 1988 United States Olympic team.
In 1996, Fitzgerald was honored as one of eight U.S. Olympians to carry the Olympic flag into the stadium during the Opening Ceremony of the Centennial Olympic Games in Atlanta. Fitzgerald has been inducted into numerous halls of fame, including the Virginia High School Hall of Fame, Virginia Sports Hall of Fame, and the University of Tennessee's Lady Volunteers Hall of Fame.
Honors
[edit]There is a road named after Fitzgerald in her childhood hometown of Dale City, Virginia. The street can be found off Dale Blvd. between I-95 and Minnieville Rd. Fitzgerald Elementary School, named after her mother Fannie, is located on the road. [2]
Fitzgerald was inducted into the USTFCCCA Collegiate Athlete Hall of Fame in 2024.[3]
References
[edit]- ^ Caroccioli, Tom; Caroccioli, Jerry (2008). Boycott: Stolen Dreams of the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games. Highland Park, IL: New Chapter Press. pp. 243–253. ISBN 978-0942257403.
- ^ "School History".
- ^ "Introducing the Collegiate Athlete Hall of Fame Class of 2024". March 22, 2024. Retrieved March 25, 2024.
External links
[edit]- Benita Fitzgerald-Brown at World Athletics
- Benita Fitzgerald-Brown at databaseOlympics.com (archived)
- Benita Fitzgerald-Brown at Olympics at Sports-Reference.com (archived)
- 1961 births
- Living people
- American female hurdlers
- Olympic gold medalists for the United States in track and field
- Athletes (track and field) at the 1984 Summer Olympics
- Sportspeople from Woodbridge, Virginia
- University of Tennessee alumni
- Medalists at the 1984 Summer Olympics
- Tennessee Volunteers women's track and field athletes
- Track and field athletes from Virginia
- Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States in athletics (track and field)
- Congressional Gold Medal recipients
- Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field)
- Women's Sports Foundation executives
- People from Warrenton, Virginia
- Sportspeople from Fauquier County, Virginia
- People from Dale City, Virginia
- Athletes (track and field) at the 1983 Pan American Games
- FISU World University Games bronze medalists for the United States
- Medalists at the 1981 Summer Universiade
- Medalists at the 1983 Pan American Games
- 20th-century African-American women
- 21st-century African-American women
- 20th-century African-American sportspeople
- NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners