Gail Devers

Yolanda Gail Devers (born 1966) is an American retired track and field sprinter who competed in the 60 metres, 60 m hurdles, 100 m and 100 m hurdles. One of the greatest and most decorated female sprinters of all time, she was the 1993, 1997 and 2004 world indoor champion in the 60 m, while in the 60 m hurdles, she was the 2003 world indoor champion and 2004 silver medalist. Quotes We try to do something different. We pick an auto-immune disorder and raise money for it. This time it was diabetes and we walked to raise money. Why? I want people to feel we have done something to change their lives. I call them enhancement centres, We want to make a difference in people’s lives if we can. We are there to help people and families whose lives have been troubled. We give them toys at Christmas and age does not matter. From 0-100. But I am not doing it for effect; I am doing it because I want to. But there's one thing I've learned during these challenging times - you can never give up or get down on yourself. A true champion keeps his or her chin up and always takes life one race at a time. This is how I keep focused on my goals and racing toward my dreams. My foundation does a walk for health each year. This year we were raising money for diabetes. I lost someone very dear to me to diabetes, so I put myself on a mission. Each year my foundation picks an auto-immune disorder, and we walk for something different. The money that came in was just from the community, not from businesses. We didn't have business money. Our sponsors gave us in-kind contributions, like bottled water. That's what the foundation is about, the community coming together and making a difference. When I look at what I've accomplished during my life thus far, I realize I've been truly blessed. Now I want to share my good fortune by passing it on and helping others. Then I'll consider myself a true champion. The Force behind the storm, April 9 2004 Unless I was injured, I liked to complete a full indoor season. I liked to peak twice each year (indoors and out). For me, that constituted a successful season. The indoor meets in Europe were always phenomenal. The fans were great and I found by competing well indoors it put me on pace to have a great outdoor season. I really liked to work on my speed from January through to March. Once I had the speed, I knew I could start training for the hurdles, drill my technique and learn to negotiate the hurdles running at that speed. The expectation as always was to do my best. I never had a particular time in mind; it was all about just executing the race from the start and nailing every 10-metre segment. If I executed 90% of the race, I felt I would be successful and the times would come. I could only control my mechanics. Irina Privalova had broken the world record (with 6.92, a mark which still stands today) earlier that year and we competed a lot that season. I remember I messed up a little in the final in that I didn’t feel I ran all the way through the line, but I ended up winning gold. And to break the US record in a championship record of 6.95 was a bonus (Devers finished 0.02 clear of Privalova). After the Barcelona Olympics, it was important to come back, dominate and win some races and put it together indoors as well as outdoors. To be a world champion was a great feeling for me and I wanted to duplicate that in the outdoor season (which she did later that year, completing the 100m and 100m hurdles double at the IAAF World Championships in Stuttgart). Yes, but I almost didn’t make the final after messing up my semi-final (Devers finished second in, for her, a pedestrian 7.15). I don’t really know what happened; I just didn’t move in the middle part of the race like I normally do. After I crossed the line, I didn’t know whether I had qualified, so I was simply ecstatic to make the final. I was determined not to repeat the same mistakes in the final. This time I moved in the middle phase but after the finish (a race she won in a time of 7.06 by a decisive victory margin of 0.09 from Chandra Sturrup) when I turned around, I realised Irina (Privalova) was not there. She had pulled up injured. We were good friends, so I went and gave her a hug to comfort her. A couple of years prior, I had started coaching myself and I wanted a new challenge. I had not run 60m hurdles since 1994 and I thought the speed of the event would also help my hurdling. It is a race with only five hurdles so there is no room for mistakes. Yes, I was a grandmother (laughs). I always write down my goals for the year, whether that is on sticky notes or in a book, so it was nice to perform. It was also nice to show that age is just a number. Even though I am 51 today, I feel 21 and I still believe I can get out there and train. To win in Birmingham was a great morale booster. Yes, I would say so. I felt so good in practise and I was on pace for the 60m hurdles world record. I had found some speed. I won the 60m flat (in 7.08) and two days later, just before I was due out for the 60m hurdles final, I decided to take the blocks back another inch or two because in my heat and semi-final I found I was rushing up to the hurdles. I had never practised this before and as soon as I got into my blocks, it played with my mind. It didn’t feel right. During the race, I was playing catch up and won silver (in 7.78, 0.03 behind Canada’s Perdita Felicien). I would suggest to anyone who wants to do to move the blocks back to practise it first. I’m a good starter, short, compact, powerful and explosive. I’m probably built for indoors. The indoor season allowed me to work on my speed in a competitive setting and that is what I really enjoyed. Towards the end of my career I trained on me own, so although I was running quick times in practise I wanted to know that it was no accident and that’s what the World Indoors allowed me to do on a regular basis. If you are not aiming to finish first, don’t show up. If you go in with the mind-set of finishing third, you’ll give a third-place performance. Success to me is about giving your all. I am married to Mike with two daughters – Karsen, 12, and Legacy, 10 – who keep me busy.  During my career I was known for my long nails and I am about to launch GD, a line of nail polish products and lip balm. I am also an ambassador for the IAAF, USATF and the Atlanta Track Club. I competed for many years in the sport, so I like to stay busy and give back. World indoor legends – Gail Devers, January 20 2018 External links Category:Track and field athletes Category:1966 births Category:Women in sports Category:Living people Category:Sportspeople from the United States Category:African Americans Category:Women from the United States Category:Women born in the 1960s