Tonique Williams-Darling

Tonique Williams-Darling (born January 17, 1976) is a Bahamian sprint athlete. She won the gold medal in the 400 meters at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece.

College

She attended the University of South Carolina, graduating with a bachelor's degree from the Moore School of Business in 1999.

Professional

Williams-Darling had a breakout year in 2004. She started with a bronze medal at the 2004 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Budapest, Hungary, running a personal best behind Russia's Natalya Nazarova and Olesya Krasnomovets. Then in July, at the Rome meeting of the IAAF Golden League, Tonique broke Mexican world champion Ana Guevara's 23 race winning streak in the 400 meter race.

At the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece Williams-Darling beat Guevara again. In a head to head final straight, she proved to be more powerful than the Mexican runner who had been hampered with injuries and trained only on a limited basis prior to the Games. Winning the race, she became the Bahamas' first individual Olympic gold medalist.

After the Olympics she secured the win in the overall Golden League-jackpot, cashing in US $500,000 after splitting the US $1M pot with Christian Olsson.

She also won the gold medal in the 400 meters at 2005 World Championships in Athletics, in a head-to-head race with American 400-meter specialist Sanya Richards. At the 2006 Commonwealth Games, despite being the favourite, she was beaten unexpectedly both in her semi-final and the final by Christine Ohuruogu of England, claiming silver instead.

Williams-Darling took the 2007 season off to nurse a hamstring injury [cite web |url=http://www.thenassauguardian.com/sports/289350007898259.php |title=Tonique takes the year off |accessdate=2007-08-18] and did not compete during the 2008 season.

Other

She is married to fellow Bahamian Track and Field athlete Dennis Darling and is the sister-in-law of NFL wide receiver Devard Darling and the late Devaughn Darling.

For her achievements to date, the Bahamas Government has honoured Tonique by naming a major highway the "Tonique Williams-Darling Highway."

References

External links

* [http://usuarios.lycos.es/tinabi/tonique.htm Tonique Williams Pictures]
* [http://www.caribbeannetnews.com/cgi-script/csArticles/articles/000009/000970.htm Caribbean Net News] - Surprise loss at the Commonwealth Games