The Rise of Dawn Harper-Nelson
by Steve McGill
For this month’s classic race, we’re taking a look back at the 2008 Olympic Final in the women’s 100 meter hurdles. This race was a huge race for multiple reasons, besides the obvious one that it was an Olympic final. Sometimes there are races that are so dramatic that they define careers, and this was one such a race for two key figures–gold medalist Dawn Harper-Nelson and 7th-place finisher Lolo Jones. Meanwhile, it also established the arrival of a major superstar in the event for years to come, silver medalist Sally McLellan (whom we now know as Sally Pearson).
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Prior to this race, very few people who weren’t diehard track fans (or should I say diehard hurdle fans) even knew who Dawn Harper (she had yet to add the Nelson) was. The glamor girl in the women’s hurdles in the USA, and in the world for that matter, was Lolo Jones. Her physical attractiveness, long legs, gritty determination, and rags-to-riches story had made her a fan favorite and media darling. She had been having an outstanding year up to that point, and was cruising through the rounds with a calm self-assurance and confident swagger.
Filling out the field, Jamaica had two women make the final who were among the medal favorites–Delloreen Ennis-London and Bridgitte Foster-Hylton. Representing Canada was another heavy medal favorite, Priscilla Lopes-Schliep. The third US entrant, Damu Cherry, also had a very good chance of making it to the medal stand. Finally, there was Sarah Claxton of Great Britain, who was a longshot to earn a medal. Definitely, it was a very fast field, with many legit contenders, although Jones was clearly the favorite for the gold.
The first one to the first hurdle was McLellan (whom I’ll refer to as Pearson for the rest of this article, since we all know her as Pearson now). She took control of the race early and appeared to be on her way to an upset victory. However, Jones and Harper-Nelson were gaining ground, and Jones looked primed to overtake her by hurdle five. By hurdle seven, that’s exactly what happened. Jones had taken over control of the race, and appeared to be on her way to a storybook ending. She was humming over the hurdles with maximum efficiency, proving herself to clearly be the class of the field.
Then, at hurdle nine, disaster struck. She got too close. The foot of her lead leg hit the hurdle on the way up. The contact caused her knees to buckle. By the time she landed, her momentum was going backwards. By the time she recovered, almost all of the rest of the field had passed her by.
The one who seized the opportunity the most was Harper-Nelson. She surged into the lead, and before you knew it, she had won the race. It all happened so fast that it was hard to tell what had actually happened.
Harper-Nelson was now an Olympic gold medalist. Jones was now a success story gone bad. The race was hers to lose, and she had lost it. To all of us who were familiar with how things can go in the hurdles, we felt sympathy for her, but we also understood that this kind of thing always can happen, no matter how experienced or skilled the hurdler is. It only takes one bad hurdle to ruin a race. In this case it could almost be said that it ruined a career. This was her moment, and a moment like it never came again for her, although she had a very fine career overall.
As for Harper-Nelson, she had to deal with the fact that she was a “consolation champion.” Everyone agreed that Lolo was really the best hurdler in the world, that she should have won, that she would have won if she hadn’t hit that ninth hurdle. Harper-Nelson was an afterthought, really. The story was all about Lolo’s breakdown, not Dawn’s triumph. She too had endured much struggle and hardship to reach this stage, and now that she had reached the pinnacle of success in her chosen event, her victory was overshadowed by Lolo’s demise. Yet time has proven that Harper-Nelson was every bit the champion that she appeared to be that day. In addition to her enormous continued success on the track in years to come, she is acknowledged to be one of the most beloved athletes on the international tour, and many younger athletes consider her to be a mentor and role model with a tremendously positive outlook on life.
As for Pearson, her shining moment would come four years later in the 2012 Olympic final, but this 2008 final served as sort of a precursor. Now here we are in 2017, and Pearson and Harper-Nelson are still finishing 1-2 in major international championships. That tells you all you need to know about both of them.
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