David William Sime was an American sprinter, multi-sport athlete at Duke University, and a pioneering ophthalmologist. He won a silver medal in the 100-meter dash at the 1960 Olympic Games. He held several sprint records during the late 1950s.
Sime was a member of Duke's baseball and track and field teams, and played football for a season in 1958, while a first-year medical school student. His beginnings in track were accidental: his 100-yard dash on an unmowed grass surface in baseball shoes was a rapid 9.8 seconds, and the coaches soon asked him to join the track team. Opting not to play freshman football, he had gone out for fall track to stay in shape for baseball. Sime hit over.400 as a freshman and had the intention continuing in baseball for coach Ace Parker, but his success during winter track changed that. Parker was a former multi-sport athlete and recognized the exceptional speed and Olympic potential; Sime focused on track in 1956, then split time between both sports in 1957. Sime achieved his greatest collegiate victory as a 19-year-old sophomore at the Drake Relays in April 1956, where he was named the meet's outstanding performer after setting a meet record in the 100-yard dash in 9.4 seconds; he handed Bobby Morrow of Abilene Christian his first loss in over thirty races in the 100, and was inducted into the Drake Relays Athlete Hall of Fame in 1959. Sime was named the ACC Athlete of the Year in 1956 for his accomplishments in track and baseball. Prior to the Olympic trials, he and Morrow appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated in 1956. Sime was selected by the Detroit Lions in the 29th round of the 1959 NFL Draft, but he opted not to play football professionally and continued at medical school. In 2010, Duke named him their most outstanding athlete of the 20th century.
Olympics
Sime was unable to make the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne due to a leg injury in his first attempt to ride a horse, but he competed in Rome four years later and won a silver medal when he was edged out by Armin Hary of Germany in a photo finish in the 100 meters. He anchored the U.S. to an apparent victory in the 4 × 100 m relay. The team finished first in a worldrecord time of 39.4 s but was disqualified because the at the first exchange from Budd to Norton, Norton started too early and the exchange happened outside the changeover box. During his career, he held world records at 100 yards, 220 yards, and the 220 yd low hurdles. During the Rome Olympics, Sime worked with the CIA trying to entice Soviet long-jumper Igor Ter-Ovanesyan to defect; the attempt failed.
Ophthalmology
Sime never played sports professionally. He graduated in the top 10% of his class at the Duke University School of Medicine. He then practiced medicine as an ophthalmologist in Florida, where he was a pioneer in intraocular lens transplants.
