Dawn Harper-Nelson

thumb|Dawn Harper-Nelson Dawn Harper-Nelson (née Harper; born May 13, 1984) is an American, retired 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. She was trained by Bob Kersee, husband of Jackie Joyner-Kersee. She is a member of the 2022 class of the UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame. Quotes "Beijing just a blip for Harper Nelson on her road to Rio" (2015) "Beijing just a blip for Harper Nelson on her road to Rio", World Athletics (September 12, 2015) Bobby (Kersee, her coach) and I have been working on the beginning of my race a lot this year, I was executing it very well in the warm up. But when I execute my race well, the first and the second hurdles come in my face really fast and I have to think of what I need to do to not get caught up in the race. In the warm up I was thinking of my trail leg a lot, but in the race I don’t think I was zoned in completely on my trail leg. And combined with the fast track, it was just a perfect storm, After I cleared the first hurdle, I thought, ‘okay, we’re racing.’ But really, for me, I can’t really race until after hurdle three. And that’s what it was. When I got back up, I didn’t realise how bad I hurt myself, The skin on the front of my knee was completely gone. It was bad. I couldn’t put my knee down on the track, I couldn’t shower, no ice baths; it was hard. For my next couple of practises I was only able to do a three-point stance. If you’ve worked really hard for this one day, then you can’t just easily dismiss something like that, The next day I didn’t get out of bed. And I felt bad because it was my husband’s birthday. He was just saying, ‘whatever you need,’ and I’m like, ‘I’m so sorry!’ I was just still in so much shock. I gave myself a day or two and then told myself that I have to learn from this, but you still have meets to go and your season’s not over so you can’t wallow in it too long. I knew I was mentally strong and I knew I would bounce back. I don’t know why, but I had to watch the final, I know some of the other hurdlers who missed out on the final were saying it was so hard to watch, and my husband was saying, ‘are you seriously about to watch this?!’ But I couldn’t get my eyes off the TV. When I saw it play out, it really came down to who ran a clean race,Those girls put together their race and it really was a magical moment for them. When someone works hard for something and it comes true, all you can do is applaud. It was exciting, for sure. I pride myself on being mentally tough and physically ready when the big meets come and I find a way to get it done. So when the fall happened, I was like, ‘Oh my God, who ran that race?!’ But we’re all human. And true consistency is about getting back up and not letting that one race defeat you. Sometimes you have to be brutally honest with yourself to understand what you’re stepping into, and that’s what I told myself, As I was on the line, I said to myself, ‘stop making it bigger than what it is; you’ve been here before. But you need to pull it off’. This is the fourth time in a row that I’ve won, and I’ve been blessed that the last two times it came down to who was going to win the final,This time there were three of us. It was so intense! For the fans it was amazing. Sometimes that’s a crutch of mine; I start to think of next year right now, straight after my last race of the season, My coach told me today at the track to finish this season with a win so I can relax my mind, because once we start again, it will be full force for Rio. I’ll try to give myself a break, but I’m already jotting stuff down for next year. That’s just what you do when you want it to go well, and I’ll definitely use my experience in Beijing as motivation for next year.Rio could be my third Olympics. Gold would be so amazing. It would be a great story. In the US, whoever makes the team has earned their spot, I was ready to set a PB in Beijing, But it’s still a tiny bit of comfort to know that I was ready to run fast and that, if I stay healthy, I can build on it for next year. So there are still a lot of positives to take into next year. Of course there’s a huge negative over my head, but a lot of positives. And I will not let it hold me back. External links Category:Track and field athletes Category:1984 births Category:Sportspeople from the United States Category:Women in sports Category:Women from the United States Category:Olympic gold medalists Category:African Americans Category:Women born in the 1980s Category:Living people Category:University of California, Los Angeles alumni