Chris Huffins

Chris Huffins
Personal information
Full name Christopher Allen Huffins[1]
Born (1970-04-15) April 15, 1970[1][2]
Brooklyn, New York[1][2]
Height 6 ft 2 1⁄2 in (189 cm)[1][2]
Weight 185 lb (84 kg)[1][2]
Medal record
Men's Athletics
Representing the  United States
Olympic Games
2000 Sydney Decathlon
World Championships
1999 Seville Decathlon
Goodwill Games
1998 New York City Decathlon
Pan American Games
1999 Winnipeg Decathlon
USA Championships
1995 Decathlon
1997 Decathlon
1998 Decathlon
1999 Decathlon
U.S. Olympic Trials
1996 Decathlon
NCAA Championships
1993 Decathlon

Chris Huffins (born 15 April 1970) is an athlete from the United States who competed in the field of Decathlon. He was the Director and Head Coach of the Men's and Women's Track and Field and Cross Country programs at the University of California from 2002 to 2007. He married Monique Parker in 1997 with whom he had one son Zachary. He earned a degree from the University of California in Political Economies of Industrial Societies in 2007. Huffins is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity. He is currently married to Tamika Huffins with whom he had another son, Jaxon.

Athletic career

Chris Huffins first became interested in decathlon while a student at the University of California. Sidelined with a broken toe, he watched other students performing decathlon and decided that that was the sport for him. Before becoming a decathlete, Chris Huffins was also a basketball player, sprinter, and long jumper.

As a decathlete, Huffins acquired a reputation as a fast starter but a slow finisher, prone to surging ahead on the first day of the competition, but fading on the second day. Huffins denied this accusation, saying that it was an accident of ordering because his two weakest events (javelin, 1500m run) happened to be the final two events of the decathlon.[3]

Achievements

Huffins holds the heptathlon world best in the 60 m dash with a time of 6.61 seconds.

2000 Sydney Olympics

Leading into the Sydney Games, Huffins established himself as one of the best decathletes in the world. In 1998, he finished second in the Goodwill Games, and in 1999, Huffins won the Pan American Games and finished third at the 1999 World Championships in the decathlon. At the 2000 USA Olympic trials, Huffins finished second behind Tom Pappas and ahead of Kip Janvrin, his future teammates at Sydney.

At the Sydney Olympics, Huffins performed consistently, and after the first nine events, including the javelin, he led eventual winner Erki Nool by 6 points. In the concluding 1500m event, Huffins ran a hard race, beating his previous best time by almost 13 seconds. It was enough to capture the bronze medal. Huffins score was a season's best of 8595 points and only 46 points short of gold medalist Erki Nool.

On the topic of not winning the gold medal, Huffins later said there were as many bronze medals as gold medals, so he didn't feel any less honored for finishing third.[3]

Coaching career

After spending some time as an assistant coach for Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and Georgia Tech in Atlanta, Georgia, Huffins was hired at his alma mater, the University of California, to coach his old team, The Golden Bears. Under his direction, the team has won 14 All-American honors, set 12 new school records, sent five athletes to the 2004 Summer Olympics, and in 2005, two of Huffin's athletes were ranked in the top 10 in the United States.

On May 29, 2007, Huffins announced his resignation from his position as director of track and field at the University of California.

After brief stints at Boise State, Eastern Michigan University, Oklahoma University & Clemson, he is currently (2014-2015) going into his second year coaching the Purdue Boilermakers.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Chris Huffins". sports-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 4 June 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Chris Huffins". usatf.org. USA Track & Field. Retrieved 4 June 2015.
  3. 1 2 Bud Greenspan (Producer/director) (2001). Sydney 2000 Olympics: Bud Greenspan's Gold from Down Under (Television production).
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