Washington State University Athletics

Quartermiler Gabriel Tiacoh brought blazing speed and an impeccable work ethic to Washington State University and in three years he delivered three Pacific-10 Conference titles, one NCAA Championship and one Olympic Silver Medal. Tiacoh was born in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, but grew up in Epinay, France and had dual citizenship, competing for both countries before arriving in Pullman. His 1984 competitive season was remarkable. At the Pac-10 Championships at Mooberry Track, Tiacoh won the 400m title in a stadium record time of 45.24 seconds, anchored the 1600m relay with a come from behind sprint to win, and ran the fourth-fastest 200m in school history of 20.71 seconds in the semifinals. He finished seventh in the 400m at the NCAA Championships that year but six weeks later was at the Los Angeles Olympic Games. There Tiacoh ran a school-record time of 44.54 in the final and captured the Silver medal, the first Olympic medal ever for his native Ivory Coast. In the next two years he was undefeated through the conference championships, grabbing two more 400m titles. Tiacoh placed third at the 1985 NCAAs and finally won the championship in 1986 in an incredible time of 44.30: a PR, school, meet and collegiate record which was ranked number one in the world at the end of the season. This record time has held as the WSU and Mooberry Track 400m dash record for 26 years. During his career he was instrumental in leading the Cougar men’s track teams to runners-up finishes at the NCAA Outdoor Championships three times. Tiacoh ran sub-45.00 seconds races 13 times in his career, the most by any 400m specialist, and nine of those times were run in 1986, the most ever in one year. His eight consecutive sub-45.00 seconds races was also a record. He was named Track and Field News most prolific 400m runner of all time recording four of the fastest times ever run (excluding altitude races including the 1968 Olympics). Tiacoh received his BA in economics in 1985 and an MBA in 1991. In 1992 he died in Atlanta of viral meningitis at age 29.