Sanya Richards-Ross participant in 2004 Summer Olympics
Career
2003–2005
Representing the University of Texas in 2003, Richards-Ross became the first freshman to win the NCAA national championship in the 400 meters and the 4 × 400 meters relay. Her victory in 400 meters set the then American U20 record of 50.58 seconds. Later that June, at eighteen years old, the freshman Longhorn claimed her first senior national title by winning the 400 meters in 51.01 seconds at the 2003 U.S. national championships and qualified for the 2003 Paris World Championships. In Paris, she finished fourth in her 400 meters semi-final and did not move on to the final. However, Richards-Ross still came home with a gold medal in the 4 × 400 meters relay after anchoring Team USA to a victory.
Richards-Ross qualified for her first Olympic team by running 49.89 seconds to place second in the 400 meters at the 2004 U.S. Olympic trials. In the 2004 Olympic 400 meters final, Richards-Ross finished sixth with a time of 50.19 seconds, behind her two American compatriots DeeDee Trotter and Monique Hennagan, who both missed the podium as well. The American women sought redemption from their disappointing run by winning gold in the 4 × 400 meters relay, days later. After leaving Athens, Richards-Ross forwent her college eligibility at Texas, competing as a Nike-sponsored athlete and training under the then head track and field coach of Baylor University, Clyde Hart.At the 2005 Helsinki World Championships, 20-year-old Richards-Ross failed to maintain the lead coming off the second curve in the 400 meters final and was passed by the 2004 Olympic champion Tonique Williams-Darling of the Bahamas, who won with a season's best of 49.55 seconds. Richards-Ross attributed the difficult loss to her inexperience as a young professional athlete, fixating on beating her main competitor before the final 100 meters instead of trusting her established race strategy. Reverting to her predetermined race plan, she dipped under 49 seconds for the first time with a personal best of 48.92 seconds, the fastest time in the world that year, in Zürich, a race that also featured the newly crowned world champion Williams-Darling.
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