e-mail to a friend
tell us what you think!
"Off The Record"
A Blog by Jill
M. Geer
A gold medal long-awaited and much-deserved
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
BERLIN - It was Sanya Richards' albatross. Her great white whale. Her literary metaphor of choice for a burden, an obsession, that she had to overcome, or die trying.
It was a Championship, with a capital 'C'.
On Tuesday, after what seemed like an endless wait, she got it.
At age 24, Sanya Richards has the bearing of a woman 10 years older, in all the best ways: she is poised, confident, gracious, and knows who she is, what she wants, and what her priorities are. I sometimes joke with her that I forget she isn't my age (which is significantly more than 24, or even 34).
It's easy to forget Sanya's youth when you consider that she has been one of the world's top 400 meter runners for seven (7!) years. At the 2002, USA Outdoor Junior Championships, her career as an elite athlete truly began when she won her first national title in 50.69 – a time that would have won the "open" national title.
It was also in 2002 that Sanya's dance with championship heartbreak began. A native of Jamaica who grew up as a track star in Florida, she returned to her homeland for the 2002 World Junior Championships as the heavy favorite in the women's 400m, but came away with silver.
The 2003 World Championships and 2004 Olympic Games gave her the international experience she needed. Her anchor-leg 4x400m run in Paris in 2003 is seared into my mind: a 19-year-old girl holding off an experienced Russian champion down the homestretch. It gave me goosebumps. Perhaps it is my Cold War-era upbringing, but I couldn't believe a teenager had the chutzpah and poise to keep it together with the world's greatest 4x400 team breathing down her neck.
By 2005, she was ranked #1 in the world. In that year, she lost only two races, but one of them was at World Outdoors, where she took the silver.
2006 was her magical year, winning a share of the Golden League Jackpot and setting the American record at the World Cup in Athens at the end of the season. I remember seeing Sanya and her mother, Sharon, in Athens before the meet. Sanya was clearly Exhausted – with a capital 'E' – after a long season, but was as friendly and gracious as ever with the press. That she broke an AR which had stood for 22 years was amazing, given the ringer she had put her body through.
In early 2007, after struggling with illness, she was diagnosed with Behcet's Disease, a relatively rare disorder that causes a number of health issues, from annoying to serious and life-altering. Sanya and her family did the right thing by playing down her health situation, which led the public not to fully realize what a battle lay ahead of her to just get back to normal, to say nothing of getting back to the top of the world.
Still gaining strength, she failed to make the U.S. team for the 2007 World Championships in her specialty 400, a victim of having to run rounds a little bit before she was ready. She came back to make the team in the 200, and she again anchored Team USA to gold in the 4x400. Once again, she ended the year ranked #1.
But she still wanted that gold medal. At the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, she went out hard – maybe too hard – in the first 200 meters of the 400m final. Her hamstring grabbed, and she finished third. I don't know that I have ever seen a more dejected third-place finisher. She did her best to put on a happy face, but you could see the bone-deep sadness, disappointment and heartbreak. Still, she composed herself for the 4x400 and ran down Russia in the final stretch to give the U.S. 4x400 relay yet another gold. The photo of Sanya coming across the finish line in Beijing may be my favorite image from those Games.
The women's 400m was perhaps the most personally desired gold of any that Team USA will win here in Berlin. Sanya had done all the right things for seven years, but had never been rewarded when the individual gold was on the line. Only Sanya herself knows how badly she wanted that gold medal. Hers is a personal victory that I am sure she will keep in some part personal. But in Olympic Stadium on Tuesday night, she could not help but share her joy with the stadium crowd and with her fans.
For the first time in seven years, Sanya will now be able to run free. Free of a tether to a past that reminded her of what she desired and what she deserved, but which eluded her despite the fact that she seemingly did everything right.
On Tuesday, she desired it. She deserved it. She did everything right.
She got it.
Share your comments about "Off The Record" by completing the form below. USATF reserves the right to edit or delete submissions for profanity, inappropriate content or any other reason. The content of the submissions does not necessarily reflect the opinions of USA Track & Field, its athletes, employees, officers, sponsors or volunteers. USATF does not intend for the content of the submissions to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, or individual. Neither USATF nor any of its athletes, employees, officers, sponsors or volunteers is responsible for, and neither will be liable for, either the submissions’ content, implication or intent, or any loss, damage or injury resulting therefrom.
Jill
M. Geer is Chief Public Affairs Officer of USATF. She recently completed her
first marathon at the Bank of America Chicago Marathon, where she qualified for
Boston. Follow her professional exploits as the USATF spokesperson and her
adventures as a mid-pack marathoner -- Off The Record.
Privacy Statement | Terms of Use | Other Policies