Veronica Campbell-Brown

Veronica Campbell-Brown C.D (born May 15, 1982) is a track and field sprint athlete, competing internationally for Jamaica. [http://results.beijing2008.cn/WRM/ENG/BIO/Athlete/1/243941.shtml Athlete biography: Veronica Campbell-Brown] , beijing2008.cn, ret: Aug 30, 2008] A five-time Olympic medalist, she is the reigning Olympic 200 m and World 100 m champion. At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, she ran the 200 meters in 21.74 seconds, the seventh fastest time ever, and became the second woman in history to win the Olympic 200 meters twice and successfully defend her title, after Bärbel Wöckel of Germany did so at the 1976 and 1980 Olympics. [ [http://www.zimbio.com/Veronica+Campbell+Brown/articles/8/2008+SUMMER+OLYMPICS+Campbell+Brown+wins+200] ]

Early life

Campbell was born to Cecil Campbell and Pamella Bailey in Trelawny, Jamaica on May 15th, 1982. She has 9 brothers and sisters and attended Vere Technical High School in Clarendon before pursuing higher education in the U.S.

Junior career

In 1999, she won 2 gold medals the 100m and 4x100m at the inaugural IAAF World Youth Championships. The following year, she became the first female to win the sprint double at the IAAF World Junior Championships. She took the 100m in 11.12, the current championship record and the 200m in 22.87. At the 2000 Olympic Games, she ran the second leg on the silver medal winning 4x100m relay team.

Campbell is the only female athlete to win both the 100 m and 200 m sprints at the same World Youth Championships.

College career

Campbell attended Barton County Community College in Great Bend, Kansas, where she set several records and won many titles including 4 national junior college titles in the 60, 100 and 200 meter dashes indoors and outdoors. She set the current record for Barton County in the outdoor 100 and 200 meter dashes. Campbell also excelled in academics earning an Associates Degree from Barton County in 2002 with a 3.8 grade average. She went on to attend The University of Arkansas where she stood out as a sprint star in a program dominated by long-distance runners.

Professional career

At the 2004 Olympics, Campbell first placed third in the 100 meters and two days later won the 200 meters, beating out Allyson Felix of the United States. She later teamed up with Aleen Bailey, Tayna Lawrence, and Sherone Simpson to win the 4 x 100 meter relay race.

In August 2005, Campbell won the silver medal in the 100 meters at the 2005 World Championships in Athletics as well as another silver medal in the 4 x 100 meter relay (together with Daniele Browning, Aleen Bailey and Sherone Simpson).

At the 2007 World Championships, Campbell won three medals with a gold in the 100 meters, a silver in the 200 meters (second to Felix) and a silver in the 4 x 100 meter relay.

At the 2008 Jamaican Olympic trials, she finished 4th in the 100m, thereby missing the qualifying requirement to automatically make the Jamaican Olympic roster for that event. She clocked 10.88 in the final, which is the second fastest time ever for a 4th place finish. She however bounced back to take the 200m final in a personal best of 21.94 seconds. [http://www.jaaaltd.com/results/natchamps08/] On July 3 it was announced that she was denied a spot in the 100 meters in Beijing, even though she is the reigning World Champion. Therefore she only competed in the 200 and the 4x100 relay at the Olympic Games. At the opening ceremony of the 2008 Olympics, Veronica Campbell-Brown carried the Jamaican flag during the Athletes' Parade. She successfully defended her Olympic 200m title in a new personal best time of 21.74sec, a time which puts her equal seventh on the all-time list. She competed at the 4x100 metres relay together with Shelly-Ann Fraser, Sheri-Ann Brooks and Aleen Bailey. In its first round heat, Jamaica placed first in front of Russia, Germany and China. The Jamaica relay's time of 42.24 seconds was the first time overall out of sixteen participating nations. With this result, Jamaica qualified for the final, replacing Brooks and Bailey with Sherone Simpson and Kerron Stewart. Jamaica did not finish the race due to a mistake in the baton exchange.

Personal life

In 2007, Campbell married Omar Brown, a fellow Jamaican sprinter and University of Arkansas alumnus. [http://www.iaaf.org/newsfiles/42616.pdf]

Personal Achievements

Campbell-Brown's personal best of 10.85 in the 100 m ranks her 6th among Jamaican women. Her 200 m best, 21.74, ranks her in the all-time top 10 in the world. This time is third among Jamaican women. It is the fastest time of the 21st Century, and the fastest since Gwen Torrence's 21.72 at the 1992 Olympics.

External links

* [http://ivetlalova.webcindario.com/veronicacampbell.htm Veronica Campbell Pictures]

References