Joanna Hayes of the US receives 100m hurdles gold medal (© Getty Images)
AthensIt took 27year old Joanna Hayes just short of 24 hours to fully savour the sweet taste of glory.
It was only after she was awarded the gold medal in a capacity crowd Olympic stadium and wept while singing along the United States national hanthem tonight that Hayes could finally consider herself as the newly crowned Olympic champion.
Not that the American did not celebrate her astonishing victory, one that she and only a few others really did expect in yesterday’s 100m Hurdles final.
I knew I would run 12.37
Oblivious of World champion Perdita Felicien crashing into the second hurdle, Hayes came out well of the blocks and never seemed to be challenged in a race that saw her crossing the finish line in 12.37, one hundredth of a second inside World record holder’s Yordanka Donkova’s Olympic record.
Seemingly unable to believe that she had actually just become the 2004 Olympic champion Hayes raised her arms in victory after the finish line, then reconsidered her gesture only to kneel down on the track and burst into tears when the replay of the race confirmed she had won it.
Then followed the traditional lap of honour, American flag well on show, the numerous waves to the crowd and the post-race TV interviews during which Hayes repeated over and over “I said I would run 12.37 and I did it!”
“Over the line I thought I had won it so I started celebrating. But then I saw the Ukrainian girl [Olena Krasovska] raise her hands and I thought ‘Ooops maybe I didn’t win it after all.’ So I stopped celebrating and started feeling embarrassed about it. But then I saw I had actually done it and it felt great,” said Hayes.
And although there was no denying that Hayes had run a superb race this was not to be the end of the story for the former Pan American Junior champion.
What would have happened?
When crashing down to the floor after dramatically hitting the first hurdle, Felicien took Russia’s Irina Shevchenko who was running in the lane just outside down with her.
As expected the Russian federation filed a protest and then started long hours of anguish and waiting.
“I was told by a US team manager when I was at doping control that the Russian had made an official protest and that we might have to re-run the race.”
“I could understand where she was coming from and I would have obviously done the same had I been in her position. I felt bad for her but having to run again an Olympic final is pretty tough.”
“I started thinking what would happen if I don’t win again. I didn’t know the rule so I thought what if the girl that wins the second race takes it in 12.40? What happens to my 12.37?”
“I had just PRed, I had just broken the Olympic record, I wanted it to be mine and to be honest with you my body was starting to feel kind of tired!”
Long wait
“I went through so many emotions, I started to get more and more concerned but then Monique Hennagan and Dee Dee Trotter who had just run the 400m final came to me and told me it was all going to be all right and that really made me feel better.”
Confusion, despair, anguish so many feelings went through Hayes’ mind who had to patiently wait until 1:30am, her press conference rescheduled, her medal ceremony postponed, to finally let her joy explode, once again!
“I just hugged Melissa [Morrison – bronze medallist] who was there with me,” said Hayes of the moments following the announcement that the Russian’s protest had been rejected.
“I still feel bad for her,” she said today. “But I earned it. I didn’t do anything wrong. If there is one she should be mad at that shouldn’t be me. I do sincerely feel for her but I didn’t make any mistake.”
Hayes admits that she didn’t even notice Felicien had fallen. “I only saw it on the replay, I honestly thought she had just finished fourth!”
Long series of injuries keeps her out for 2 years
Not that it really matters to the UCLA graduate whose determination and hard work finally paid through.
A former Long and Triple jumper who fell in love with the hurdles when she was first introduced to the discipline, Hayes has had her own share of misfortunes through the years.
She was eighth in the 1998 NCAA 100m Hurdles despite running with a strained right hamstring that prevented her from competing in the 400m hurdles. She injured the hamstring while winning the 100m hurdles at the Pac-10 Championships. As a sophomore in 1997, Hayes suffered a hyper-extended right knee on the first day of competition at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
She narrowly missed a spot on the 2000 U.S. Olympic Team, placing 4th in the 400 Hurdles and 5th in the 100 Hurdles.
In 2001 a serious hamstring injury kept her out of the circuit for two years, a time during which she worked at the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Youth Center teaching kids to be positive in East St. Louis, Illinois.
“Coming out of Junior high I needed a change. My legs were fatigued, I couldn’t have it anymore so I decided to go to Saint Louis and help Jackie Joyner in her foundation. I just love working with kids, that is what I do all the time!”
Prefers sprint hurdles
But the passion for the sport soon saw her moving back to Los Angeles and in December 2002 she resumed training full time with her College coach JJK’s husband, Bob Kersee.
And the hard work and dedication for which Kersee is known for world-wide clearly paid off as Hayes made the national team for last year’s World Championships in Paris where she competed in the 400m Hurdles – did not make it through the semi-finals - and this winter’s World Championships where she finished an excellent fourth.
“I have always competed in both the 400m and 100m Hurdles but the time table has often been hard to deal with.”
“One month before the US Trials though I told my coach I wanted to compete in only one event and I picked the 100 Hurdles. Why? Because I like it better!
“It’s a lot riskier event of course but it’s the 100m Hurdles! I mean I still train for both but I don’t like competing in the 400m Hurdles, I like to train for it but not to compete in it. The 100 Hurdles, I just love it all the time!”
Not a perfect race
And Hayes really did seem to enjoy it yesterday in a race which although was the fastest of her life she still described as not perfect.
“I did two HUGE mistakes! I hit the fourth hurdle SO bad and then I hit the eighth again but fortunately I didn’t panic. I thought to myself ‘you are in front and you are not going to mess it up.’ I just kept thinking that I had to get over that 10th hurdle safely.”
“Remember when Gail Devers lost in 1992 when she clipped the last hurdle, all those pictures came back to my mind. I didn’t want it to happen again.”
Fortunately for Hayes, history would not repeat itself and she safely made it through the line.
To those who wonder what would have happened if Felicien hadn’t fall Hayes answers back categorically.
“I have a lot of respect for her but I don’t think she would have beat me. She would have had to run 12.36 and that is not so easy to do!”
“I wasn’t nervous coming on the track because I knew I was ready for it. I could feel the adrenaline, I could feel a lot of emotions but not nervousness. Before the race I emailed a friend and told her I would run 12.37. And I knew that if I managed to actually run that time no-one would have defeated me.”
Following a sleepless night – “ok maybe I slept 10 minutes on the car ride back to the village” – during which she spent hours talking to her coach, on the phone with her parents and her pregnant older sister, Hayes’ dream of stepping on the Olympic rostrum was finally going to come through.
Nervous going on to the podium
“I felt more nervous walking towards the podium than I did going into the race. Can you believe it? Now that I have this,” she says holding her medal, “I finally realize that I am Olympic champion. When I was out there with the medal around my neck I kind of didn’t want to leave because I knew it would be the end.”
But this is far from being the end for one of the nicest young women in track and field who will long treasure the Athens experience.
“See this,” she says pointing again to her medal. “I am going to sleep with it for a long long time!”
