Nat Page Named Assistant Coach for 2020 U.S. Olympic Team
10/31/2019 12:01:00 PM | Men's Track and Field, Track & Field
Former Mizzou National Champion added to 2020 U.S. Olympic Team Staff
COLUMBIA, Mo. – Former Mizzou Track and Field athlete Nat Page was named to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics U.S. coaching staff as announced in a release by USATF on Wednesday. Page, who is currently in his 24th year as an assistant coach at Georgia Tech, won the 1979 NCAA National Championship in the high jump as a Missouri Tiger and is the current program record-holder in the outdoor high jump. Page was inducted into the Missouri Athletics Hall of Fame in 1998.
During his career at Mizzou, Page earned a number of accolades. He garnered All-American status in the high jump on four separate occasions and won Big 8 conference championships in the high jump on three separate occasions from 1976 to 1979. Page is the current record-holder in the Mizzou outdoor high jump as his 2.28m // 7-5.75 mark has held up since the USOC Olympic Festival in Colorado Springs, Colorado on June 1, 1979. Meanwhile, Page's program-record indoor high jump mark of 2.22m//7-3.25 held for more than 40 years until it was topped by Roberto Vilches during the 2019 track and field season.
While setting records and dominating during his career in the high jump, Page also excelled in a handful of hurdles events. Page sits at eighth all-time on the Mizzou outdoor 110m hurdles record board with a 14.09 clip.
As his career at Mizzou winded down, Page was ranked in the top-10 in the world from 1979-81 and earned a spot on the 1980 U.S. Olympic Team. As his career progressed, Page competed at a world-class level in the high and intermediate hurdles from 1984 to 1992. The former Mizzou star was a finalist at the U.S. Track and Field Championships every year from 1985 until 1991 and was a member of the United States' 1992 World Cup team.
So far during his coaching career, Page has coached nine World Championship team members, four national champions, five Olympians and four American record setters. He was named the NCAA South Region Men's Assistant Coach of the Year in 2008 and the Mondo Women's Jumps/Multi Events Coach of the Year in 2004.
The Games of the XXXII Olympiad take place from July 24 – August 9, 2020 in Tokyo, Japan.
For all the latest on Mizzou Track & Field, stay tuned to MUTigers.com and follow the team on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram (MIZ_TrackField).
Players Mentioned
