Joaquim Cruz
Brazilian middle-distance runner (track and field), coach
Joaquim Carvalho Cruz (born 12 March 1963) is a Brazilian former middle-distance runner, winner of the 800 meters at the 1984 Summer Olympics. He is one of only ten men, and in August 1984 became the second man, to run the 800 metres in less than 1 minute 42 seconds.
Biography
Joaquim Cruz was born in Taguatinga, Federal District. The son of a steel worker, he began running as a 13-year-old, and showed great promise as a junior. At the age of 15 his personal best over 800 m stood at 1:51 min. After setting a junior world record of 1:44.3 min in 1981, he received a scholarship for the University of Oregon in 1983. The move immediately paid off, and Cruz won the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) championships over 800 m that same year. He also competed in the inaugural World Championships in 1983, winning the bronze.
The following year at the 1984 NCAA Track and Field Championships, Cruz became one of only a handful of people to win the 800/1500 m double (a feat that would not be repeated until Andrew Wheating achieved it in 2010). Cruz is the co-holder of University of Oregon 1,500 m school record of 3:36.48 along with A.J. Acosta.
“Joaquim Cruz” enters the record as brazilian middle-distance runner (track and field), coach. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Joaquim, Cruz and Brazilian can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q452719. VIAF identifies the subject as 3094150325575510090001. 1 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1963, 1984, 1981 and 1983.
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This entry incorporates text from “Joaquim Cruz” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.