Dennis Allen Mitchell (born February 20, 1966 in Havelock, North Carolina - American sprinter athlete, Olympic champion and world champion.
He was the only American sprinter to compete in the 100-meter race at three consecutive Olympics, each time placing in the top four in the finals.
He started his international career at the 1987 World Championships in Rome, where he appeared in the qualifying and semi-finals of the 4 × 100 meters relay race (in the final he was replaced by Carl Lewis). At the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, he was 4th in the 100 m race. He lost chances of winning a medal in the 4 × 100 meters relay, when the American team was disqualified for crossing the transition zone].
A month before the 1991 world championship in Tokyo, he ran in the 4 × 100 meter relay, which set a world record with a time of 37.67 seconds (in Zurich on August 7, 1991). At the World Championships, Mitchell won a bronze medal in the 100-meter race, and the USA relay race of Andre Cason, Leroy Burrell, Mitchell and Carl Lewis broke their own world record by 37.50 s and won a gold medal
In 1992, he became the US 100-meter champion for the first time (he later repeated this achievement in 1994 and 1996). At the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Mitchell won a bronze medal in the 100 meter race and a gold medal in the 4 × 100 meter relay, which once again broke the world record for 37.40 s (composed of Michael Marsh, Burrell, Mitchell and Carl Lewis) At the 1993 world championship in Stuttgart, he once again won a bronze medal in the 100 m race and a gold medal in the 4 × 100 m relay (Jon Drummond, Cason, Mitchell and Burrell), which equaled the world record in the semi-finals]. In 1994 he won the 100 m competition in the Goodwill Games in St. Petersburg. At the 1995 World Championships in Gothenburg, he suffered an injury in the 100 m race and did not finish the race
At the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, he won a silver medal in the 4 × 100 m relay (Drummond, Tim Harden, Marsh and Mitchell ran in it), and was fourth in the 100-meter race [1]. At the 1997 World Championships in Athens, he only appeared in the 4 × 100 m relay, but the American team (Brian Lewis, Tim Montgomery, Mitchell and Maurice Greene) did not finish the qualifying run.
In 1998 he was disqualified by the IAAF for 2 years due to too high testosterone levels (the competitor explained the high level of this hormone by having sex and drinking beer the night before the doping test. After serving his sentence, he appeared at the 2001 world championship in Edmonton on the 3rd shift the 4 × 100 m relay, which won the final run, but was later disqualified due to a doping decision by Tim Montgomery (the BALCo scandal).
