Dawn Harper-Nelson sports discipline competed in 100 metres hurdles
Dawn Harper-Nelson (born May 13, 1984) is an American track and field athlete who specializes in the 100-meter hurdles. She was the gold medalist in the event at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and the silver medalist in the 2012 London Olympic Games and the 2017 World Championships. Harper is the first American 100-meter hurdler to ever win gold at an Olympics and medal in the following Olympics. She is trained by Bob Kersee, husband of Jackie Joyner-Kersee, six time Olympic medalist also from her hometown of East St. Louis, Illinois. She is a member of the 2022 class of the UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame.High school and collegiate career
In high school, Harper showed much promise in the sport by winning her first IHSA 2A state championship and breaking the Illinois state record in the 100m hurdles her freshman year with a time of 14.03. In her freshman year, she also won the 300m hurdles with a time of 42.70. Her sophomore year was met with much adversity when she tore her posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) and meniscus before the IHSA sectional meet. With a torn PCL and meniscus, Harper still earned a silver medal in the 100m hurdles, but the discomfort moved her coach, Nino Fennoy, to scratch her from the 300m hurdle finals. She broke her own Illinois state record in the 100m hurdles her junior year with a time of 13.54. That record time still currently stands. Senior year Harper came back and defended her titles winning her third state final in the 100m hurdles with a time of 13.82 and the 300m hurdles. Harper graduated from East St. Louis Senior High as a 6-time IHSA state champion.
During her time with the UCLA Bruins, Harper won the sprint hurdles at the US Junior Championships and at the Pan American Junior Athletics Championships. She received All-American honours twice at the 2004 NCAA Women's Outdoor Track and Field Championship, after coming eighth in the 100 m hurdles final and taking second place in the 4×100-meter relay.2008: First Olympics
Harper had a rough start to the 2008 season when she suffered an injury that required arthroscopic surgery in February. This was right before the outdoor season began. However, four months later, she made it to her first Olympic team at the U.S. Olympic Trials, squeaking into third place by .007 seconds. During training for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, she struggled with getting sponsors, but was given a hand by her teammate, injured hurdler Michelle Perry, when she was given a pair of spikes. These were the pair Harper raced in through the Olympics.Harper, then 24 years old, won her first Olympic gold medal for 100 m hurdles with a time of 12.54 seconds, a new personal best for Harper. It was a surprise win amid crushing losses to US Olympic track-and-field team favorites, Lolo Jones and Sanya Richards, and propelling Harper to international renown.
Harper closed 2008 with a third-place performance at 2009 IAAF World Athletics Final.2009
The defending Olympic gold medalist won her first national title in the women's 100m hurdles in 12.36. Though wind-aided, Harper posted the fourth fastest time ever by an American under any conditions. She recorded a personal best of 12.48 seconds in the semi-finals of the 100 m hurdles at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics in Berlin. In the final Harper clipped hurdle two throwing her off bringing her back to manage a seventh-place finish. She went on to 2009 IAAF World Athletics Final running 12.61 seconds for a silver medal. She finished the season ranked second in the world in the 100m hurdles.2014
Coming off of a bittersweet 2013 season, Harper-Nelson started her season with a new first running her first shuttle hurdle relay at the Drake Relays with the world's fastest time of 50.50sec. The Diamond League race was once again a huge hurdle, but winning Birmingham and running a World Lead 12.44 at Stade de Paris, brought the competition down to the wire at Zurich. Before the Diamond League final, Harper-Nelson defended her 2013 USATF National Championship in Sacramento in a winning time of 12.55. The Diamond League final at Zurich was headlined by Queen Harrison and Harper-Nelson. The IAAF report said it this way, "Dawn Harper Nelson produced an almost flawless race to fly over the 10 barriers and win the 100m hurdles in 12.58 becoming the Diamond Race winner. She celebrated in effervescent fashion, and delighted the crowd on the first bend, by turning cartwheels on the track beyond the finish line. " Winning her 3rd consecutive Diamond Trophy, Harper-Nelson went to represent the Americas at the IAAF 2014 Continental Cup in Marrakech, Morocco. She won the Continental Cup with a Championship Record of 12.47. Harper-Nelson finished the 2014 season ranked as the #1 100m hurdler in the World.2015
Coming off of a stellar season ranked world #1, Harper-Nelson took that momentum to this World Championship year. Though she was the IAAF Diamond League winner, which grants one an automatic spot on the world team, she would not be given the bye as the previous World Champion from 2013 got the automatic bid. So had to compete for place on the World Championship team at the USATF National Championship. Harper-Nelson prevailed in a stacked field of newcomers winning her 4th US Championship in a time of 12.55 seconds. Disappointment struck as Harper-Nelson the overwhelming favorite crashed the 2nd hurdle tumbling out of the Semifinal. In spite, Harper-Nelson dusted herself off and won her 4th Diamond League title at the IAAF Brussels Diamond League Final2017
Harper-Nelson joined the Worlds team again in 2017. At the 2017 IAAF World Championships in London, She won silver in the 100m hurdles against familiar rivals, finishing in 12.63. This was her second medal from an IAAF World Championships race. Though Australia’s Sally Pearson won the gold medal, Harper-Nelson said “Me and Sally have just battled it out for years and it's been so great to be here with her. At the end, I could see Sally had won and I thought 'it's me and Sally again'.
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