Men's Cross Country

José Luiz Barbosa, a Brazilian native and former Olympic 800-meter distance runner, joined the Bellevue University cross country and distance track teams in December 2021 as an assistant coach. 

In a professional running career that spanned nearly two decades, Barbosa represented Brazil in the 800 meters at four consecutive Olympic Games ('84, '88, '92 and '96), advancing to the finals twice and finishing as high as fourth in 1992. He was the World Indoor Champion at 800 meters in 1987 and was the silver medalist at the outdoor World Championships in 1991. He was ranked among the Top Ten in the world at 800 meters for nine consecutive years, including a no. 1 ranking in 1991, and holds a personal best of 1:43:08.

Since his retirement, he has coached the cross country and track teams at Granite Hills High School in El Cajon, Calif. for four seasons, was the head coach of the cross country and track distance teams at San Diego Mesa Junior College, and was head cross country coach at UC-Davis. Barbosa continues to work with world-class athletes around the world as a personal coach. 

The former Olympian earned a degree in Physical Education and a certification in strength training and conditioning for world-class athletes at Centro Universitario das Faculdades Metropolitanas Unidas in Sao Paulo, Brazil in 2008. His certification in strength training and conditioning focused on topics such as endurance/stamina training, interval training, flexibility improvement, aerobic and anaerobic improvement, mental focus improvement, and enhanced biomechanics. 

Barbosa's coaching style emphasizes the importance of finding ways to maximize training conditions and techniques that will help each athlete to reach their highest potential in both sports performance and personal character development.

Head Coach Craig Christians: "I truly believe that Coach Barbosa is going to elevate our program and I can already see an impact in just the few days he has been here. He has an infectious enthusiasm to go with his wealth of knowledge, from strength training to biomechanics to endurance training. I think his presence is going to present a rare opportunity for a local athlete to come to Bellevue and train with an Olympian who has experienced so much on the world athletic stage. On top of all of those qualities, I have found him to be a humble and caring man who has the best interests of the athlete at his core."