Hemery, David

▪ English athlete

born July 18, 1944, Cirencester, Gloucestershire, Eng.

      English hurdler who held the 400-metre-hurdles world record of 48.1 sec (1968–72). In 1969 he was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire.

      His father's work took the family to the United States, where Henry attended school, graduating from Boston University in 1969. He competed with the British team in the 1966 Commonwealth Games at Kingston, Jamaica, winning the 110-metre hurdles. At the 1968 Olympic Games, competing for the British team at Mexico City, he won the gold medal and set his world record for the 400-metre hurdles. At the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, he won the bronze medal, after which he retired from international competition and turned professional. He wrote an autobiography, Another Hurdle (1976), and later coached track in the United States.

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