June 27, 2006

South Carolina’s former NCAA champion Lashinda Demus is smiling big these days after she walked away with a $100,000 check at the conclusion of the AT&T USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Indianapolis on Sunday. She also ran a personal best and world-leading 53.07 to blow the field away with her second-straight 400m-hurdle title at the national meet.

Demus, who finished at USC in 2004, won the $100,000 first prize in the Visa Championship Series with her performance, worth 1,234 points on the IAAF scoring tables. Oddly enough, Demus joins two other former Gamecocks, Terrence Trammell and Lisa Barber, who each won the $100,000 prize indoors this season.

Demus took victory in the Visa Championship from 2005 Visa Champion Sanya Richards, who had entered Sunday’s competition in first with 1,227 points. Richards gave Demus a congratulatory hug before Demus – who ran a powerful final turn and was smooth over the final two hurdles – was asked if her smile was due to the victory or the money. Demus’ happy answer: “B – the money!”

Justin Gatlin won the prize on the men’s side. To score points, athletes must win their event during Visa Championship Series meets. To be eligible for the cash bonuses, athletes also must win their events at the AT&T USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships.

USCsports.com talked to Demus after she returned home to Columbia on Tuesday.

USC: OK – let’s cut straight to the chase. What will you buy with the $100,000? Any ideas yet?

Demus: I want to reconstruct my backyard at my new house here (Columbia). I will toss my mom and my little sisters some change and the rest will go towards investments. (any bling?) I am not that kind of person. I have some diamond earrings, but I had those before.

USC: Former Gamecocks Lisa Barber and Terrence Trammell won the VISA series indoors so you are the third former Carolina track athlete to win the $100,000 prize this year. Is there something in the water?

Demus: I think the thing that all of us have in common is that we don’t like losing and we like money. It’s easy when you think about it that way.

USC: When the season started, was one of your goals to win the Visa $100,000?

Demus: I didn’t know of it until the start of outdoor season (March/April). I wasn’t thinking about it until the time came around. I knew I had a chance when I heard about it, but I didn’t think it was reality. I didn’t think about it through fall training or anything.

USC: Did you have to run a certain time in the finals at USAs to win the money?

Demus: Yes I knew I had to run a certain time. I knew I had to run under 53.27 and I had to win the event. Last year I lost the $100,000 by a point to Sanya Richards. I knew she ran a 49.2 in the 400m the day before to win her final and that’s equal to 53.27 in the hurdles. I had to either equal her time or best it to win the money.

USC: Did you feel any added pressure to run that time? Was it something you thought about?

Demus: In the semis I ran 53.5 and basically cruised so I thought I would run the high 52s in the finals. I hit the last hurdle and that was a 52.8 or 52.9 until then.

USC: After you won and ran a personal best 53.07, you made a hand signal for 100,000. Did you know you’d won?

Demus: I don’t remember putting up the $100,000. I was just happy and just did that. Then the (ESPN) interviewer asked me if I knew I had won the money. But I don’t remember doing the money sign after my race. I was so happy to win. I just don’t remember doing that.

USC: You won the silver medal at the World Championships last year at the tender age of 22. Does that seem young for someone to win a silver medal at that level?

Demus: I don’t think it’s young. Sanya Richards is just 21 and she won the silver in the 400m so I don’t think I’m young. If I would have won the gold at Worlds, I wouldn’t have thought that I was too young. I don’t look at age as something that is a factor, it’s if you do the work.

USC: How long do you want to run?

Demus: At least until the 2012 Olympics. I don’t plan to run forever. I am not going to be one of those runners in my late 30s. I want to run until at least the 2012 Olympics. I also want to run the open 400m and I want to start training for that. But, when I start training for the open 400m, it depends. I want to set the American and World records in the 400m hurdles first. If I can do that then I want to train for another event.

USC: Is setting the American record one of your immediate goals?

Demus: This year I want to have the American record and I think I can do that. The American record is 52.61 (Kim Batten, 1995). The world record is going to take a bit more time (52.34, Pechonkina, Russia, 2003). Even though it’s not far from the American record it’s gonna take some time and technical practice. I hope that to have that in the next two years.

USC: What kind of race will it take to run the world record?

Demus: I would have to run the perfect race. I have to go through all the hurdles with 15 steps between. A nice start out of the blocks is important. If you hit all odd numbers with your steps you won’t have to switch legs and that’s also important. There are 10 hurdles and that would be the perfect race to go 15 steps between each one.

USC: Do you think about that race very much – visualize it?

Demus: Oh yeah, all the time. The night before I ran the Visa race (USA finals), I visualized I would run the American record, but I didn’t. I visualize that all the time.

USC: You won the NCAA title in the 400m hurdles as a freshman. You won a number of SEC titles. You made the Olympic team after your junior season. Which one of those races do you think about most?

Demus: The Olympic trials race when I got third – I think about that race a lot. That would have been a perfect race if I haven’t fallen over the ninth hurdle. I was in my best shape I have ever been in and I felt good. I didn’t feel any pain during the race. Since that day I have been trying to get back to that point. I tripped on the ninth hurdle and I was leading by at least 15 meters. (how did you not fall after almost hitting the ground?) I have no idea. I was basically to the ground. I quit for a split second, but I realized I was still in it when they passed me. When I got going again I was in fourth place. I passed her right at the end to finish third.

USC: How exciting was that feeling when you made the Olympic team?

Demus: I was mad. Forget about making the Olympic team, I thought I was on my way to running a really fast time. I was on my way to signing a contract and my time was based on that. I knew I messed up a time that would have been – I would have broken the American record that day.

USC: You train with your former Gamecock teammate Tiffany Ross-Williams, who finished fourth at the USA Championships and has been running really well this year. How does that help you?

Demus: I think that is the perfect thing to have two talented people training together. She is very competitive and so am I. It’s like a track meet every day at practice and it can’t get any better than that.

USC: What are your plans the rest of the summer? Will you run in the World Cup in September?

Demus: I am running in the World Cup. I have about seven meets before the World Cup. Switzerland, Rome, Paris, Greece, a few other cities in Europe.

USC: Goals this summer?

Demus: I am still going for the American record. I am not worthy of anything else, like the world record, if I can’t get the American record. That is my main goal this season.

USC: You talk about running in Europe. Tell us a little about that experience. Talk us through a week or two of your schedule.

Demus: You get there two days before a race and you train, you run that day and then you travel the next day to another country in Europe and then you have two days off. It’s on and off planes. You don’t check out the sights like a tourist and you are traveling all the time. It’s crazy.

USC: What are the crowds like? Do you have a favorite city in Europe?

Demus: The meets in Europe are way different than they are in America. You can get 30,000-60,000 people for each meet. The stadium is packed. It’s like a Super Bowl almost.

I like Paris. It reminds me a smaller New York City with all the trains and everything.

USC: Any special Gamecock memories?

Demus: Winning the NCAA title my freshman year. We were the first team in the school’s history and they can’t take that away from us. That was pretty cool.

USC: Top memory as a professional?

Demus: I think this one just about tops it right now – winning the $100,000, but there is more to come.

USC: Anything you want to say to the Gamecock fans?

Demus: Game Cocks. Game Cocks (laughing, smiling). Thanks for your support and stay tuned.