Sharon Dabney (born January 1959) is a retired Americantrack and field athlete.
She was the1979 Pan American Games Champion at400 metres[1] in aphoto finish overJune Griffith. She also was part of the United States gold medal-winning4 × 400 metres relay team.Four years earlier, she was part of the silver medal-winning team as a 16 year old.
She was sixth place in theUnited States Olympic Trials in 1976. Her 51.55 in 1977 while still atJohn Bartram High School in Philadelphia was the second fastest 400 at the time, soon to be surpassed by the Howard sisters.[2] At the time, beforeTitle IX took effect, the high school had no athletic program for girls. She was the1977 National Champion. At the 1980 Olympic Trials, she finished 4th behindSherri Howard,Gwen Gardner andDenean Howard which should have put her on a likely medal winning relay team for the1980 Summer Olympics.[3] However that glory was not to be as for many athletes of her era she was left out of the Olympic by the1980 Summer Olympics boycott. She did however receive one of 461Congressional Gold Medals created especially for the spurned athletes.[4] In1984, she was unable to get out of the quarter-finals againstChandra Cheeseborough andDiane Dixon.
While studying atCalifornia State University, Los Angeles, she joined the three Howard sisters in setting the long-standing school record.[5][6]
