Gail devers biography 100 meter

Inshe was diagnosed with Graves' disease and underwent radioactive iodine treatment followed by thyroid hormone replacement therapy. Eventually, she could barely walk. Devers recovered after the radiation treatment was discontinued, and she resumed training. At the World Championships, she won a silver medal in the m hurdles. At the Summer OlympicsDevers starred.

She qualified for the final of the m, which ended in an exciting finish, with five women finishing close within 0. The photo finish showed Devers had narrowly beaten Jamaican Juliet Cuthbert. In the final of the m hurdles, Devers' lead event, she seemed to be running towards a second gold medalwhen she hit the final hurdle and stumbled over the finish line in fifth place, leaving Voula Patoulidou from Greece as the upset winner.

InDevers won the World Championships in Athletics m title after — again — a photo finish win over Merlene Ottey in an apparent dead heat, and the m hurdles title. She retained her hurdles title in The m final at the Summer Olympics was an almost exact repeat of the World Championships final three years before. Ottey and Devers again finished in the same time and did not know who had won the race.

Again, both were awarded the same time of In the final of her favorite event, Devers again failed, as she finished fourth and outside of the medals. After these Olympics, Devers concentrated on the hurdles event, winning the World Championship again inbut she had to forfeit for the semi-finals at the Summer Olympics. Devers competed in the m and m hurdles at the Summer Olympics in Athens, her fifth Olympic Games.

On February 2,at the age of 40, Devers edged Olympic champion Joanna Hayes to win the 60 m hurdles event at the Millrose Games in 7. Furthermore, the time bettered the listed World Record for a year-old by almost 7 tenths of a second. During her career, Devers was notable for having exceptionally long, heavily decorated fingernails. One of the fastest starters in the world, Devers even had to alter her starting position to accommodate her long nails.

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Gail devers biography 100 meter: Gail Devers is an

American athlete born That year she set a national record of However, just as Devers appeared to be approaching her peak as an athlete, she began suffering from a variety of physical problems. After qualifying for the U. Olympic team, she found herself plagued by frequent muscle pulls and tired legs, making it difficult for her to complete simple workouts.

Soon after, she suffered from impaired hearing, memory loss, migraine headaches, and involuntary shakes and convulsions. Over the next two and a half years, Devers visited more than a dozen physicians. Several doctors told her that she was simply training too hard, while others thought she had diabetes. At one point, she seriously considered ending her track career.

Gail devers biography 100 meter: In the m hurdles, she was

But Kersee convinced her to stay with it. Following an almost two-year layoff, Devers tested her condition in a minor track meet inbut performed poorly. Then in the fall of that same year, a chance meeting with a team physician at UCLA finally led to solving the mystery. She was told that her condition had progressed almost to a cancerous state, perhaps as little as weeks away from malignancy.

Because the beta-blocker medication for the disease was prohibited by the Olympic Committee as an illegal substance for athletes, Devers elected to receive radiation treatment. Several weeks of radiation targeted against the diseased part of her thyroid gland resulted in a dramatic improvement in her symptoms, prompting her to think that she was cured.

However, new problems erupted in earlyamong them severely painful gail devers biography 100 meter blisters on the soles of her feet and between her toes. Eventually, the pain of walking became so great that her parents had to carry her around her apartment. Devers began to believe that she might never walk again, a fear that seemed imminent when one doctor told her that he might have to amputate her feet.

The radiation had also completely destroyed her thyroid gland, forcing Devers to be placed on a lifetime regimen of daily medication. One month after the radiation was stopped, Devers was more or less healthy again, except for a sensitivity to the sun and occasional skin-related problems due to her medication. Virtually as soon as she could walk again, she resumed her practice at UCLA.

The first workout of her comeback was a slow walk around the track, which she had to do wearing only socks because shoes still hurt her feet. Progressing rapidly from walking to jogging to sprinting workouts, Devers regained her strength in time for a meet in March ofwhere she qualified for the prestigious TAC The Athletics Congress Meet to be held in June.

At the TAC Meet she won the meter hurdles, achieving the fastest time by an American woman that year. The following summer, Devers took second place in the meter hurdles at the World Championships in TokyoJapanand two weeks later, set a new American record in the event at a track meet in BerlinGermany. My only desire was to be alone ….

I felt if I could just get back to running, I would find Gail again. As the Olympics in Barcelona approached, Kersee convinced Devers to put more effort into the meter dash, since he had always felt that her greatest potential was as a sprinter. With her physical problems behind her, Devers trained harder than ever and made the Olympic team in both the meter dash and the meter hurdles.

While at the Olympics, during the quarter finals of the meters, she temporarily lost all feeling in her feet in the starting blocks. Despite fears that her illness was flaring up again, Devers shocked everyone by winning the gold medal in the meter dash with the best time of her career, which nipped second-place finisher Julie Cuthbert of Jamaica by only.

Her surprise victory led to some suspicion about use of performance-enhancing drugs, but no evidence of such assistance was found and rumors were soon dispelled. However, the ecstasy of victory turned to agony five days later. Running too fast in the finals of the hurdles event, Devers overstrided and caught one of the barriers with her foot, tripped, and fell across the finish line.

The fall dropped her to fifth place, ruining her chances of becoming the second woman in Olympic history to win gold medals in both the hurdles and the meter dash. Confirming her position as the fastest woman in the world, Devers dominated the indoor track season in She focused more on sprinting than hurdling at that time, and lost just one indoor dash in eight performances.

Her achievement was especially impressive since she had paid little attention to indoor running prior to that year. She set an American record of 6. Strain from her grueling indoor season resulted in a hamstring injury early in her outdoor training in the spring of Avoiding the mistake that had cost her a dual victory at the Olympics, Devers won titles in both the meter hurdles and the meter dash.

Her victory over Merlene Ottey of Jamaica in the dash was so close that it took the judges three minutes of studying the photograph taken at the finish before they could confirm Devers as the winner. Earning three major titles inDevers finished the year with a phenomenal 21 victories in 23 races. She also ran the fastest times in both the meter dash and meter hurdles that year.

Few athletes, male or female, have possessed her rare combination of great physical skill and steadfastness in the face of debilitating setbacks. New York TimesAugust 2,Section 8, pp. B14; February 27,pp. B9, B Cite this article Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. Decker, Ed " Devers, Gail —. Decker, Ed "Devers, Gail —.

Gail devers biography 100 meter: Yolanda Gail Devers is an

January 8, Retrieved January 08, from Encyclopedia. Then, copy and paste the text into your bibliography or works cited list. Because each style has its own formatting nuances that evolve over time and not all information is available for every reference entry or article, Encyclopedia. G ail Devers will go down as one of the fastest female combination sprinters and hurdlers in history, as well as one of the greatest track and field athletes.

While her awards and accomplishments, including setting several American and world records in various indoor and outdoor events, are impressive, they are only half the story. Devers's triumph over Graves' disease — a debilitating and potentially dangerous thyroid condition — early in her career is the stuff of legend. The disease and the treatments that she pursued made Devers so ill that she had to be carried around by her family.

At one point, doctors almost amputated her feet because they were so swollen. Devers's professional comeback, which began. From an early age, Devers's brother, Parenthesis, would race Gail, always making fun of her when she lost. Devers decided that she did not want to lose anymore, and began training. She beat her brother in their next race. From that point, Devers steadily increased her competitive arena, moving from the neighborhood races against her brother to the races at Sweetwater High School.

Throughout school, Devers continued to improve, and her stellar performances helped the team win the San Diego sectional track and field team title. Inher senior year at Sweetwater, Devers went to the state championships, where she won the meter dash and meter hurdles, and placed second in the long jump. All of these accomplishments attracted attention from major universities, who heavily courted Devers with offers of athletic scholarships.

Bob Kersee was the first coach who pushed Devers harder than she pushed herself, and his difficult training methods — which included entering Devers in six or seven track-and-field events in some meets — paid off. Devers advanced rapidly, even in events like the meter hurdles, which she had always felt were out of her reach due to her small size.

InDevers was in top form. She set a national record of While training for the Olympics, however, Devers began to experience a host of physical problems, including fatigue, muscle pulls, bouts of insomnia, fainting spells, migraine headaches, and various other ailments. Nevertheless, Devers pushed herself, and at the Olympics she had her worst competition performance since high school.

She did not qualify for the finals, and many experts assumed that Devers had pushed herself too hard under Kersee. Devers's symptoms worsened, and included memory and hair loss, skin discoloration, and near-constant menstruation. During the qualifying races for the finals of the meter dash, Devers temporarily lost feeling in her feet while she was waiting in the starting blocks.

She shook it out, however, and made it to the finals, which featured one of the closest finishes in Olympic history. Devers crossed the finish line at almost exactly the same time as her four competitors, which included fellow American, Gwen Torrence. Judges analyzed the photo finish, and Devers was declared the victor, despite accusations from other competitors that Devers might have been using performance-enhancing drugs—rumors that were quickly shown to be unfounded.

Devers had successfully come back from her debilitating bout with Graves' disease to win an Olympic gold medal. She was not done, however. Several days later, Devers competed in the gails devers biography 100 meter of the meter hurdles, a race that she dominated from the beginning. Unfortunately, Devers's tremendous speed worked against her, and she came up too fast on the final hurdle, hitting it with her lead foot.

Devers tripped and fell, stumbling across the finish line in fifth place. Devers bounced back quickly from this latest setback, and inshe set several indoor track records, including an American record of 6. Awards and Accomplishments Won meter dash and meter hurdles, and places second in long jump in California high school state championships Gold medal in the meter dash at the Pan-American Games Set an American record in the meter hurdles NCAA champion in the meter dash Member of U.

Olympic trials. Enrolls at University of California, Los Angeles, on a track scholarship, and begins training with Bob Kersee; Devers is the first female athlete from her high school to earn an athletic scholarship from a major university. Competes at the Summer Olympics, finishing eighth in her qualifying heat for the meter dash. Diagnosed with Graves' disease; she opts to undergo radiation treatment as opposed to taking a medication that is on the banned medications list for the Olympics.

Two days before her feet are set to be amputated, doctors realize that Devers's radiation treatments are the cause of her dangerously swollen feet. Begins her track and field comeback by walking around a track with socks on her feet, since her feet are still too tender to wear shoes. Less than seventeen months after doctors almost amputate her feet, she wins the gold medal in the meter dash in the Summer Olympics; she also leads the race for the meter hurdles event, but trips over the last hurdle, falling to a fifth-place finish.