Early career and college Born in
Dallas, Texas, the son of William Johnson and Dorrise Patton, Darvis Patton was a very versatile athlete from a young age and he competed in the
long jump,
triple jump and
sprint events at
Lake Highlands High School and
TCU days. At the
AAU Junior Olympic Games in 1998 he won the long jump, was runner-up in the triple jump and placed fourth in the
200-meter dash. He graduated from
Garden City Community College that year and won an
athletic scholarship at
Texas Christian University. While there he began to focus more on the
100-meter dash and 200 m under the coaching of
Monte Stratton. He was also a semi-finalist in the 200 m at the 2000
United States Olympic Trials. He began to establish himself nationally at that year's
USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, where he came fourth in the 200 m as well as seventh in the long jump.
First World and Olympic medals He had his first successes as a senior in 2002 when he was runner up in the 200 m at both the
Indoor and
Outdoor US Championships. The retrospective disqualification of Ramon Clay meant he was the American outdoor 200 m champion that year. There were no global track championships that year so he mainly competed on the international circuit. He won the 200 m races in
Glasgow and
London and was runner-up at the
Golden Gala and
Memorial Van Damme meets. Based on his performance, he was selected to represent the United States at the
2007 Pan American Games. He finished second in the 100 m behind
Churandy Martina and anchored the relay team to a
bronze medal. He was chosen as part of the
relay team for the
2007 World Championships and this time made the final after qualifying. The American team (with
Wallace Spearmon,
Tyson Gay, and
Leroy Dixon) became the world champions in a world-leading time of 37.78 seconds, fending off the
Jamaican challengers who set a
national record. At the
2008 United States Olympic Trials, Patton achieved his lifetime best performance in the 100 m, running 9.89 seconds in the quarter-finals. He went even quicker in the wind-assisted (+3.1 m/s) final, clocking 9.84 seconds, and came in third place behind Tyson Gay and
Walter Dix. He broke the
10-second barrier legally for the second time at the
Herculis meet in Monaco, placing second behind
Asafa Powell in 9.98 seconds. During the
2008 Summer Olympics in
Beijing he was the slowest qualifier for the 100 m final. In the final itself he ran 10.03 seconds and was again the slowest and thus the eighth placed athlete. The following year Patton came second to
Michael Rodgers in a close 100 m race at the
2009 US championships in June, running a windy 9.92 seconds. This won him a place on the American team for the
2009 World Championships in Athletics. Prior to the event, he was runner-up in Monaco and in
Stockholm – running a wind-assisted 9.95 seconds behind Tyson Gay at the latter. He managed to reach the final of the
men's 100 meters after scoring a season's best of 9.98 in the semi-finals. He performed poorly in the final however, finishing last with a slow time of 10.34 seconds due to an injury. The hopes of the American men's relay team were again dashed by an illegal baton exchange, this time between Patton and
Shawn Crawford. Patton ended his season on a high: he ran a series of sub-10 runs including 9.95 for third at the
Weltklasse, 9.94 to win the
Hanžeković Memorial, and a personal record-equalling run of 9.89 seconds for third at the
Shanghai Golden Grand Prix, behind Tyson Gay and
Asafa Powell. He also placed third in the 100 m at the Memorial Van Damme and the
2009 IAAF World Athletics Final. The
2011 World Championships in Athletics was one of his less successful global outings. He was eliminated in the 200 m semi-finals and in the relay final he clashed with Britain's
Harry Aikines-Aryeetey and failed to pass the baton successfully. He had season's bests of 9.94 seconds for the 100 m and 20.25 seconds for the 200 m. Although he had failed to gain an individual spot, he was chosen for the relay team. At the
2012 London Olympics he ran as a substitute runner in the qualifiers but even the weaker American team of
Jeff Demps, Patton,
Trell Kimmons, and
Justin Gatlin broke the
national record of 37.38 seconds. The American team for the final (bringing in Tyson Gay and
Ryan Bailey) improved that record further to 37.04 seconds but was still second behind the world record-breaking Jamaican team. Patton received his second Olympic
silver medal in the relay as a result. He began 2013 with quick times, running 6.50 for the 60 m (a world record for over-35 athletes) and a wind-aided 100 m time of 9.75 seconds. == USATF Athlete's Advisory Committee & Board of Directors ==