Campbell eyes third gold in 200

Veronica Campbell-Brown of Jamaica smiles during a press conference in advance of the U.S. Open Track and Field Championships in New York, Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

Veronica Campbell-Brown of Jamaica smiles during a press conference in advance of the U.S. Open Track and Field Championships in New York, Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

Thursday, August 2, 2012

— No athlete, man or woman, has won the 200 meters at three consecutive Olympics.

Former Arkansas sprinter Veronica Campbell-Brown hopes to be the first.

Campbell-Brown, competing for her native Jamaica, won the 200 in 22.05 seconds in 2004 at Athens and in a personal-best 21.74 seconds in 2008 at Beijing. She’ll go for three 200 gold medals in a row next week in London, beginning with Monday’s first round. The 200 semifinals will be Tuesday with the final Wednesday.

“It feels good,” Campbell-Brown, a five-time Olympic medalist, told CNN in an interview earlier this year. “When I was a little girl, my dream was always to get an individual gold medal. I have two, which is more than I askedfor. A third will be the icing on the cake.”

Campbell-Brown, who turned 30 on May 15, will warm up for her attempt at triple gold in the 200 by running in the 100, which has preliminaries Friday with semifinals and the final Saturday. She took third in the 100 at the 2004 Olympics.

Campbell-Brown also has won medals as part of the Jamaican 400 relay team in the 2000 Olympics (silver) and 2004 (gold). She was 17 when she competed at the Olympics for the first time in 2000 at Sydney.

“Just to make an Olympic team is 1 percent of 1 percent of the population,” said Lance Harter, who has been Arkansas’ women’s cross country/ track and field coach since 1990 and was a U.S. team assistant at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona. “Then when you talk about making two Olympic teams, that’s very rarefied air.

“So for Veronica to make four teams is really incredible, and she’s competing in two events in the 100 and 200 that are incredible youthladen, where there are always new sprinters coming up trying to knock you off. But she’s still ranked right at the top of the world.

“She hasn’t had any injury issues, and she’s trained well, and she’s always focused. That’s pretty much a winning combination.”

Sports Illustrated projects Campbell-Brown to earn three bronze medals - 100, 200 and 400 relay.

“I look forward to the challenge,” Campbell-Brown told Reuters after the Jamaican Olympic Trials at Kingston in early July. “It’s going to be tough at the Olympics, but as long as I’m healthy, I’m still confident that I am able to accomplish my goals.”

Harter said he feels fortunate that Campbell-Brown competed at Arkansas in 2004, when she won an NCAA Indoor title in the 200, before turning pro. Her contract with Adidas included a clause providing payment for the completion of her college education, and she continued to live and train in Fayetteville until earning a businessdegree in 2006. She and her husband, former Arkansas sprinter Omar Brown, now live in Orlando, Fla.

“Veronica’s passionate about everything she does, and that included going to school here,” Harter said. “She had the intellectual capacity to say, ‘Hey, I can’t run forever, and I’m also learning how to deal with my money and plan for my employment for the future.’

“She’s always very careful when it comes to buying cars and buying homes. She is very deliberate in everything she does. She always gets everything very well-researched before she makes a decision.

“She came from really hard times, so she appreciates the value of a dollar.”

Campbell-Brown grew up in rural Jamaica in the parish of Trelawny in a house that didn’t have heated or running water. Campbell-Brown said she had to go to a nearby river to collect water for her family. Her parents were farmers.

“I have five brothers, four sisters, so you can just imagine the competition in the house,” she told CNN. “It helped me be very competitive, strong and independent.

“I used to race the boys and win. So I knew I had a special gift and should work on improving it.”

Campbell-Brown said she did so well racing in elementary and middle school races that her coach and teacher recommended she go to “the Sprint Factory” at Camperdown High School. Camperdown and Trelawny parish have produced many top sprinters in addition to Campbell-Brown, including Olympic and world champion Usain Bolt.

“I think it’s just hard work and determination,” Campbell-Brown told CNN of her home country’s ability to produce world-class sprinters. “Jamaica is full of so many talents.”

If Bolt is Jamaican’s King of Speed, then Campbell-Brown is the Queen.

“Veronica’s a folk hero in Jamaica with all she’s accomplished and the longevity of her career,” Harter said. “Everybody recognizes her, and she’s such a class act.”

Campbell-Brown has been writing an online diary for the International Association of Athletes Federation in recent months.

“I had a rather quiet July as I focused primarily on fine-tuning for the Olympic Games,” Campbell-Brown wrote in late July. “It seems so hard to grasp that London will represent my fourth Olympic Games ... Time certainly moves fast in a sport where being faster is one of the Olympic Games motto.”

Campbell-Brown noted she spent some time in London attending Wimbledon and wrote that she was glad “my favorite tennis player, Serena Williams, won another Grand Slam title.”

In January, Campbell-Brown wrote in her IAAF diary about the excitement of an Olympic year starting.

“I always smile as an Olympic year approaches, just like those aspiring for presidency or aiming to maintain the political status quo in the United States ... the four-year cycle is very important to us collectively,” she wrote.

Harter, who is attending the Olympics the next several days, said Campbell-Brown is quiet and shy around people she doesn’t know well.

“I think she’s very careful about who she allows in, so to speak,” Harter said. “But whenever I see her, she’s always quick to give me a hug and chat about how she’s doing and talk about Omar, and she always asks about my family and about the Razorbacks. She’s a very, very niceperson.”

Campbell-Brown told CNN she feels “blessed” to have had so much success on the track.

“I don’t think anything I’ve achieved has changed me,” she said. “I am the same person. My personality doesn’t change. You have to believe it to achieve it ... I visualized it and made it happen.”

Information for this article was contributed by CNN, Reuters and the IAAF website.

At a Glance

NAME Veronica Campbell-Brown

AGE 30 (born May 15, 1982)

HOMETOWN Clarks Town, Trelawny Parish, Jamaica

RESIDES IN Orlando, Fla.

OLYMPIC EVENTS 100 meters, 200 meters and 400-meter relay

ARKANSAS CONNECTION Ran for the Arkansas Razorbacks in 2004 before turning pro. Completed her business degree at Arkansas in 2006 and was inducted into the UA Sports Hall of Honor in 2009. Married to former Arkansas sprinter Omar Brown since 2007.

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS Five-time Olympic medalist, winning gold in the 200 in 2004 and 2008 and in the 400 relay in 2004, silver in the 400 relay in 2000 and bronze in the 100 in 2004. ... Is one of only two women, along with East Germany’s Barbel Wockel (1976 and 1980), to win consecutive Olympic gold medals in the 200. ... Has won 15 medals at the World indoor and outdoor championships, including seven gold and eight sliver and won the 200 at the 2004 NCAA Indoor meet. ... Won two gold medals at the World Junior Championships in 2000.

Sports, Pages 17 on 08/02/2012