Aug. 31, 2007
ANOTHER SILVER! Only bested world record holder Xiang Liu of China, two-time Olympic silver medalist and former Gamecock NCAA champion Terrence Trammell won the silver medal in the 110m hurdles at the World Championships in Osaka, Japan today.
Trammell ran a 12.99 to Liu’s 12.95 in the finals. Liu won the gold medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics with Trammell finishing with second straight Olympic silver medal in the same race.
Trammell, who now trains in his hometown of Atlanta, has accomplished so much on the international stage in addition to the two Olympic silver medals after turning pro his junior in 2000 at Carolina. Here are a few of his highlights: the 2004 Olympic Trials champion; a 2-time World Indoor 60mH gold medalist (’01, ’06); the 2003 World Outdoor 110mH silver medalist; 3-time USA Indoor 60mH champion (`00, ’01, `06); the 2007 USA Outdoor champion; the 2005 World Indoor 60m bronze medalist; a 2002 USA Indoor 60m champion; and the 1999 World University Games champion.
“Even if I won the silver, I feel like I missed the gold. I felt like I could win, but Liu just had the better race – I am making no excuses,” said Trammell, a 2005 South Carolina Hall of Fame inductee. “There will be more races in the future. As far as Beijing is concerned, I am confident that it will be different then (host of the 2008 Olympics). I did the best I could; I gave it my best and ran under 13 seconds. This is my second fastest time, so I cannot be disappointed. I am excited. It is cool. For the most part, I ran the race I wanted to. I made some slight mistakes at the end. In 2005 I was fifth, now I am second – I am moving in the right direction.”
Two former Gamecocks ran on the USA’s 4x100m relay, clocking a 38.10 to finish second in the prelims to Jamaica. The finals are Saturday. Rodney Martin, who finished fourth in the 200m yesterday, ran the lead-off leg and former All-American Leroy Dixon ran the anchor leg. Wallace Spearmon and Darvis Patton joined the two former Gamecock speedsters on the relay. “I was comfortable with the run. The goal was to get the stick around,” said Martin. “We ran good and comfortable today,” said Dixon. “We just wanted to get through. We don’t want to just burn up the track today, so we will just go and wait for tomorrow. Rodney started us off with a good, great leg. That’s to be expected for the finals. Wallace ran a good leg. Darvis got it to me. It should all be good for tomorrow.”
