Donald Paige Athlete
Donald ("Don") Paige (born October 13, 1956 in Baldwinsville, New York) is a retired middle distance runner from the United States, who set the world best year performance in the men's 800 metres in 1980. Paige ran 1:44.53 on 23 June 1980 in Eugene, Oregon, U.S. After the U.S. boycotted 1980 Olympic Games, he defeated Olympic gold medalist Sebastian Coe by 0.03 seconds in an 800 meter race in Via Reggio, Italy and was later ranked number one in the world for the 800m in 1980 by Track & Field News magazine. His personal best in the same event came three years later: 1:44.29, achieved on 4 September 1983 in Rieti, Lazio, Italy. In 1979 Paige ran an indoor American Record of 2:20.3 for 1000m and a few months later ran a personal best of 3:54.6 for the mile. In June he pulled off a rare 800m/1500m double at the NCAA championships, becoming only the third man to win both events after Ron Delany (1958) and Ross Hume (1945). (In the 800, run only 35 minutes after the 1500m final, he ran a rare negative split race of 54.3/51.9, while in the 1500 he closed his last lap in a swift 53.7, the last 200 being covered in 26.2 seconds. ) Two weeks later Paige ran a personal best for the 1500 of 3:37.4, good for 10th place on the all-time U.S. list at that time, in finishing second to Steve Scott at the AAU championships. Paige ran 3:54.19, his lifetime best for the mile, on May 16, 1982.
Personal facts
| Birth date | October 13, 1956 |
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