Lee Palles

Decathalon

/ Olympic Games

Lee Palles

Sport:
Track & Field
Event:
Decathalon
Hometown:
Georgetown, S.C.
Country:
United States *
At MSU:
1975-1978

Member of the 1980 United States Olympic Team but was unable to compete at the Moscow Games due to the U.S. boycott ... sixty-four nations boycotted the Games ... instead competed at the United States' alternative meet, the Liberty Bell Track Classic in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that summer, which featured 29 nations ... finished second in the decathlon at the Liberty Bell Classic as one of two athletes to break the 8,000-point threshold ... won the long jump and high jump and was among the top three in every other event except the shot put ... finished second at the U.S. Olympic Trials in 1980 with a career-best 8,159 points after entering the competition with the lowest qualifying score in the field ...score was the fifth-highest in U.S. Trials history under the 1962 decathlon scoring table, which would later change again in 1984 to the modern table ... still stands among MSU's all-time top five in the decathlon despite the shift in scoring calculations ... won the 1978 SEC Championship in the decathlon and was an All-American in the 400m hurdles.