Randy Givens

Randy Jenelle Givens (born March 27, 1962) is an American former track and field athlete who competed in sprinting events. She set personal bests of 11.06 seconds for the 100-meter dash and 22.31 seconds for the 200-meter dash. Givens was a 200 m finalist at the 1984 Olympic Games and represented her country at the 1983 World Championships in Athletics. She was the 200 m gold medalist at the 1983 Pan American Games and returned to win a silver medal at the 1987 Pan American Games.

Givens established herself as a college athlete with the Florida State Seminoles and won four sprint titles (two individual, two relay) at the NCAA Women's Championships in 1984. She was also a multiple medalist at the 1983 Summer Universiade, taking 200 m and relay gold medals and a 100 m silver medal.

Early life and college Born in Alexandria, Louisiana, she grew up in Amityville, New York and attended Amityville Memorial High School. She went on to attend Florida State University from 1980 to 1984 and competed for their Florida State Seminoles collegiate team. The team was very successful during the period which also included Olympic medalist sprinters Marita Payne and Michelle Finn. Givens' first competitions were in the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) conference, which was a women's counterpart to the then-male dominated National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). At the AIAW indoor championships in 1981 she made the 300-meter dash final then won her first title, anchoring the Seminoles to victory in the 4 × 200-meter relay. She repeated that feat in the 4 × 100-meter relay at the AIAW outdoor meet, where she also placed third in the 200-meter dash. The following year she came third in the 300 m indoors and anchored the team to the runner-up spot in the 880 yard relay.

NCAA track competition for women was instituted in 1982 and Givens competed at the NCAA Women's Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships. There she placed third in the 200 m, seventh in the 100-meter dash, and was a member of both the second-placed 4 × 100-meter and 4 × 400 meter relay teams. This performance helped the Florida State Seminoles track and field team to third place in the college rankings at the championship. She also won the collegiate 100 m at the Penn Relays that season. At the 1983 NCAA Championships she was again third in the 200 m, improved one place to sixth in the 100 m, and claimed both relay titles, resulting in a runner-up team finish for the Seminoles behind the UCLA Bruins. Givens was that year's Broderick Award (now the Honda Sports Award) winner in the track and field section.

During her time at Florida State she set school records in the 100 m (11.06 seconds) and 200 m (22.31), as well as the indoor 300-yard dash and 300-meter dash. As of 2015, all the latter three times remain the school records for Florida State. She was inducted into the Florida State Athletic Hall of Fame in 1989.

Givens' international career overlapped with her time at college. She competed at the highest level of student sport at the 1983 Summer Universiade and came away with a gold medal in the 200 m (ahead of schoolmate Marita Payne), becoming the first American to win that title. She was also silver medalist behind Beverly Kinch in the 100 m, and claimed a second gold medal in the 4 × 100 m relay.

After a strong performance at the national championships she was chosen for the inaugural 1983 World Championships in Athletics. Her time of 23.01 seconds to win her heat was briefly the championship record. Givens reached the semi-finals of the 200 metres at the World Championships in Athletics and ranked 13th overall. She was also part of the relay team at the meet, but the American women did not perform to their usual high standard and were eliminated in the first round, one hundredth of a second behind Canada. The 1983 Pan American Games followed shortly after that same month and Givens won the 200 m title, succeeding Evelyn Ashford, and also shared in the 4 × 100 m relay gold medals with Jackie Washington, Alice Jackson and college teammate Brenda Cliette.

A third-place finish at the Olympic Trials earned her the right to compete at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. There she steadily improved through the Olympic 200 m rounds and placed sixth in the final with a time of 22.36 seconds – the second-fastest of her career. She returned to defend her 200 m title at the 1987 Pan American Games held in Indianapolis, but was beaten into second place by her compatriot Gwen Torrence.

Personal records 100-meter dash – 11.06 seconds (1984) 200-meter dash – 22.31 seconds (1983)

National titles NCAA Women's Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships 100-meter dash: 1984 200-meter dash: 1984 4 × 100-meter dash: 1983, 1984 4 × 400-meter/mile relay: 1983, 1984

International competitions