José Luíz Barbosa

José Luíz Barbosa

Personal information
Born	(1961-05-27) May 27, 1961 Três Lagoas, Brazil
Height	1.84 m (6 ft 0 in)
Weight	68 kg (150 lb)
Sport
Country	Brazil
Sport	Men's athletics
Medal record World Championships 1991 Tokyo 800 m 1987 Rome 800 m World Indoor Championships 1987 Indianapolis 800 m 1989 Budapest 800 m Pan American Games 1995 Mar del Plata 800 m 1983 Caracas 800m 1983 Caracas 4x400m

José Luíz Barbosa, known as Zequinha Barbosa (born May 27, 1961) is a Brazilian former middle-distance runner who specialized in the 800 metres. José participated in 4 Olympic Games: 1984 Los Angeles; 1988 Soul Korea; 1992 Barcelona and 1996 Atlanta. He is the 1987 World Indoor Champion, and a two-time World Championship medallist, winning silver in 1991 and bronze in 1987. 1995 Pan American gold medalist 800m 1987 Silver medalist, 1983 Silver medalist 800m and Silver 4x400m. Jose was ranked number one in the world in the 800m in 1991.

Career

Born in Três Lagoas, Mato Grosso do Sul, Barbosa won the silver medal at the 1991 World Championships in Tokyo. A few weeks before, Barbosa had won the 800m race at the prestigious Letzigrund meeting in Zürich. He travelled to Tokyo as the favourite but lost to Billy Konchellah from Kenya, who overtook him on the home straight.

Shortly after the championships, Barbosa ran the fastest time of the year in Rieti, where he clocked 1 minute 43.08 secs. This remained his personal best throughout the remainder of his career. A year later he placed fourth in the Olympic final.

Earlier in his career, Barbosa had won a bronze medal at the 1987 World Championships in Athletics in Rome, and finished sixth in the 800m final at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul.

Barbosa celebrated his greatest indoor success at the 1987 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Indianapolis, where he won gold over 800m. At the 1993 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Toronto he entered the 800m final as a favourite but dropped out after colliding with Nico Motchebon.

Barbosa was head Cross Country and Track and Field Coach at Granite Hills High School in El Cajon for 5 1/2 years.

Barbosa was also the Men's Cross Country and Track and Field coach for Mesa College in San Diego.

On December 1, 2021, he was named the Cross Country and track assistant coach at Bellevue University Nebraska.

Competition record

Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Event	Notes
Representing Brazil
1981	South American Championships	La Paz, Bolivia	2nd	800 m	1:54.7
			1st	4 × 400 m relay	3:09.5
1983	World Championships	Helsinki, Finland	19th (sf)	800 m	1:48.05
			6th (sf)	4 × 400 m relay	3:04.46
	Pan American Games	Caracas, Venezuela	2nd	800 m	1:46.65
			2nd	4 × 400 m relay	3:02.79
	Ibero-American Championships	Barcelona, Spain	3rd	800 m	1:50.02
			3rd	4 × 100 m relay	41.00
			2nd	4 × 400 m relay	3:07.62
	South American Championships	Santa Fe, Argentina	1st	800 m	1:49.1
			1st	4 × 400 m relay	3.10.8
1984	Olympic Games	Los Angeles, United States	15th (sf)	800 m	1:48.70
			7th (sf)	4 × 400 m relay	3:03:99
1987	World Indoor Championships	Indianapolis, United States	1st	800 m	1:47.49
	Pan American Games	Indianapolis, United States	2nd	800 m	1:47.37
	World Championships	Rome, Italy	3rd	800 m	1:43.76
			19th (h)	4 × 400 m relay	3:05.64
1988	Olympic Games	Seoul, South Korea	6th	800 m	1:46.39
			33rd (h)	1500 m	3:44.46
1989	World Indoor Championships	Budapest, Hungary	2nd	800 m	1:45.55
1990	Goodwill Games	Seattle, United States	3rd	800 m	1:45.81
	Ibero-American Championships	Manaus, Brazil	1st	800 m	1:46.18
1991	World Championships	Tokyo, Japan	2nd	800 m	1:44.24
1992	Olympic Games	Barcelona, Spain	4th	800 m	1:45.06
	World Cup	Havana, Cuba	4th	800 m	1:47.66
1993	World Indoor Championships	Toronto, Canada	6th (sf)	800 m	1:48.56
	World Championships	Stuttgart, Germany	15th (sf)	800 m	1:45.92
1994	Goodwill Games	Saint Petersburg, Russia	6th	800 m	1:47.49
	World Cup	London, United Kingdom	7th	800 m	1:48.26
1995	Pan American Games	Buenos Aires, Argentina	1st	800 m	1:46.02
			4th	4 × 400 m relay	3:07.54
	South American Championships	Manaus, Brazil	1st	800 m	1:46.16
	World Championships	Gothenburg, Sweden	15th (h)	800 m	1:47.10
1996	Ibero-American Championships	Medellín, Colombia	2nd (h)	800 m	1:49.93
	Olympic Games	Atlanta, United States	23rd (sf)	800 m	1:50.33
1997	World Championships	Athens, Greece	25th (qf)	800 m	1:47.30

Personal bests

Outdoor

• 400 metres – 45.9h (Sǎo Paulo 1983)
• 800 metres – 1:43.08 (Rieti 1991)
• 1000 metres – 2:17.36 (Nice 1985)
• 1500 metres – 3:37.04 (Grosseto 1991)

Indoor

• 600 metres – 1:16.82 (Karlsruhe 1986)
• 800 metres – 1:45.43 (Piraeus 1989)
• 1000 metres – 2:20.77 (Madrid 1989)

References

• José Luíz Barbosa at World Athletics