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Biography · Sports & Achievement

Butch Reynolds

1964–

United States

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Biography

Harry Lee "Butch" Reynolds Jr. (born June 8, 1964) is an American former track and field athlete who competed in the 400 meter dash. He held the world record for the event for 11 years 9 days with his personal best time of 43.29 seconds set in 1988. That year, he was the silver medalist at the 1988 Seoul Olympics (0.06 seconds behind Steve Lewis) and a relay gold medalist. Reynolds was falsely accused and banned for drug use for two years by the IAAF until the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of Reynolds due to an apparent drug testing procedural flaw. Reynolds was awarded $27.3 million due to the false accusation damages but he never received the money. On his competitive return, he became the 1993 World Indoor Champion and won two successive 400 meter silver medals at the World Championships.

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Biography text · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source checked 2026-10-20

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