Aug. 28, 2004

Already owning a silver medal in the individual 400m at the Athens Olympics, South Carolina senior Otis Harris ran the lead-off leg of the USA’s gold medal winning 4x400m relay. USC will bring home a record six medals from track and field at the Athens Olympics – three gold, two silver and a bronze.

The relay, which also featured Derrick Brew, Jeremy Warnier and Donald Williamson, clocked a 2:55.91. It is the third fastest time ever to be run in the world. Harris clocked a 44.3 lead-off leg.

“It feels great to get a gold medal. I missed getting a gold medal in the open event,” said Harris. “It was a blessing for me and my teammates to get a gold medal. It is definitely more satisfying (than an individual silver or bronze) because all of the pressure that was put on us. With all the other problems that the other relays were having, we just wanted to get the stick around and solidify a gold medal.”

“Otis ran fantastic, both individually and with the relay,” said USC Head Coach Curtis Frye. “he’s run two straight low 44 second races, proving he is here to stay on the world’s stage in the 400m. We are so proud to now have a gold medal at Carolina on the men’s side. He’s now ready to be the man on the world’s stage. I imagine he will now blossom and be a consistent 400m runner not just a one-shot deal guy.

Besides Maurice Greene, Team USA has five other multiple medal winners at the 2004 Olympics:

South Carolina’s Otis Harris -two medals (gold 4×400 relay, silver 400)

Jeremy Wariner – two golds (400, 4×400 relay)

Justin Gatlin – three medals (gold-100, silver-4×100 relay, bronze-200)

Shawn Crawford – two medals (gold-100, silver-4×100 relay)

Derrick Brew – two medals (gold 4×400 relay, bronze 400)

Maurice Greene – two medals (silver 4×400 relay, bronze 100)