Whilst celebrating his win, he fell into the moat around the track at the Estadio Olímpico Universitario in Mexico City.

[2] In the race itself, Leonard defeated the Trinidadian Hasely Crawford who was to win the Olympic 100 metres title the following year.

On 13 September he equaled the low-altitude world best time for the 100 m of 10.03 s originally set by Jim Hines at the 1968 AAU National Championships commonly known as the "Night of Speed".

At the 1980 Summer Olympics Leonard won a silver medal in 100 metres, finishing behind Allan Wells of Great Britain.

[6] 1Representing the Americas Leonard was ranked among the best in the world in both the 100 and 200 m sprint events over the incredible spread of 8 seasons from 1973 to 1980, according to the votes of the experts of Track and Field News.