Bursting onto the national scene as a precocious teenager in 1966 winning the 440y at the Girl’s (14-17 years) AAU Outdoors and an invite on the USA Track & Field Team, Kathy Hammond (Sacramento, California) went on to win a pair of medals at the 1972 Munich Olympics and set seven American records in the 400m/440y, and four World Indoor bests in the 500y (1:06.3 & 1:04.5) and 600y (1:22.7 & 1:20.5.5).
In 1967, under the coaching of Will Stephens, Will’s Spikettes, the 15-year-old Hammond won the 440y at the AAU Indoors and placed second in the AAU Outdoors with a 52.6. Despite world-class performances in the 400m and 200m in 1968, Hammond suffered an injury before the Trials that kept her from qualifying for the Mexico Games.
As a senior at Mira Loma High School in 1969, under the coaching of Steve Lehnhardt, Sacramento Roadrunners, Hammond was beaten only once all year and won the AAU Outdoors gold and set her first two national records with a 52.3 at Stuttgart and a 52.1 at Warsaw.
Hammond’s peak came in 1972 when she won the AAU Championships and then the Olympic Trials, where she set her third 400m American record of 51.8. At the USA-Canada match in Champaign, Illinois, prior to the Games, Hammond lowered her 440y American record from 52.6 to 52.2, and anchored the U.S. to a 4x440y world record of 3:33.9. She twice broke the American 400m record at Munich, with a 51.92 in the qualifying heats and then a 51.64 to claim bronze, before anchoring the U.S. to 4x400m relay silver in 3:25.15 with a blistering 49.2 carry. Hammond was awarded Outstanding Amateur Athlete in Women’s Track & Field in North America in 1972.
Hammond moved to Honolulu, Hawaii in 1990, where she was warmly welcomed into the U.S. Olympians Association-Hawaii Chapter, and served as VP and President. She finished the degree she started at CSUS, graduating with a BS in Kinesiology-Athletic Training from UH Manoa. After graduation, she worked in physical therapy and personal training.
For the past fifteen years, Hammond has been employed by the YMCA of Honolulu, as a Group Exercise Coordinator, Associate Healthy Lifestyles Director, and is now semi-retired teaching exercise classes.
She has a beautiful daughter Angela, who accompanied her mom when she was honored in “Legends of Track & Field” at the 2016 Olympic Trials Opening Ceremony in Eugene, Oregon.