Angelo Taylor – A Natural Talent
James Dunaway for the IAAF
28 December 2000 - Intermediate hurdlers and Atlanta seem to go together. Edwin Moses, a student at Atlanta’s Morehouse College, won the Olympic 400m hurdles in 1976. He won again in 1984, and lives in Atlanta today. Kevin Young moved to Atlanta shortly after winning the 1992 Olympic gold medal and stayed for eight years. 1996 gold medallist Derrick Adkins, a native New Yorker, attended Atlanta’s Georgia Tech and after graduation made the city his home.
And now comes 21-year-old Angelo Taylor, the Sydney gold medallist in the 400m hurdles, who has lived within 10 miles of downtown Atlanta all his life, and who may be the most talented of all.
At Southwest DeKalb High School, Taylor ran everything from 100 meters to two miles - and also long jumped, high jumped and triple jumped. At 16, he won state championships in the 300m hurdles, the 400m and the triple jump, ran in the 4x100 and 4x400 relays and led DeKalb to the team championship. Last year, he did it again, and again DeKalb won the state title.
After graduation from high school in 1996, he concentrated on the 400m hurdles. He won the U.S. Junior championship, and finished third in the World Junior Championships in 50.18 behind Al Nubi Faraj of Qatar and Llewellyn Herbert of South Africa.
When Taylor entered Georgia Institute of Technology that autumn, Grover Hinsdale, the Georgia Tech coach, introduced him to his new training partners: Adkins, fresh from winning the Atlanta Olympics and owning a 47.54 personal best, and Octavius Terry, the 1994 National Collegiate (NCAA) champion with a best of 48.39. Taylor was respectful, but hardly intimidated.
"I wanted to show those guys what I could do," says Taylor. "But there was no competition going on in workouts. Coach wouldn’t let us."
In March 1997, Hinsdale asked him if he would consider changing his dominant lead leg from the right to the left. After Hinsdale explained the advantages for a 400 hurdler, he recalls, "Angelo thought a minute, and said, ‘Let’s try it.’
"The very first time he adjusted his steps to the first hurdle perfectly," says Hinsdale. "He had some difficulty with the hurdles at first, but he caught on pretty quickly." Quickly is right: he finished second in the NCAA Championships, improving his personal best to 48.72.
In 1998, Taylor won the NCAAs, finished second in the U.S. national championships in 47.90, and also took second in the Goodwill Games. Track & Field News ranked him Number 3 in the world behind U.S champion Bryan Bronson and IAAF Grand Prix champion Stephane Diagana of France. Still only 19, Taylor left Georgia Tech that summer to run full-time. But he continues his studies in the off-season with classes at Morris Brown University in Atlanta.
In 1999, Taylor won the U.S. championship, and was favored to win the World Championships in Sevilla. But he made what he calls "a rookie mistake," finishing third and out in his first-round heat. "I thought I had a secure spot," he says. "So I shut down and somebody nipped me at the line. I really learned a lesson."
That lesson pushed him to train harder than ever in 2000, and it paid off in the American Olympic Trials, where he won by a stunning six meters in a PB – and world-leading – 47.62.
But in Sydney, careless racing in the preliminaries again cost him. Although he won his heat easily, his time of 49.48 was only the ninth fastest time, and he drew the dreaded tight turns of lane one in his semifinal. Then a second place in the semi behind Llewellyn Herbert earned him another lane one assignment in the final.
It was time to buckle down. "I told myself I’m not going to give up just because I’m in lane one," says Taylor. "I just wanted to stay smooth and relaxed and attack the last three hurdles. And that’s what I did - got out good, stayed relaxed, focused on myself and didn’t pay any attention to the other guys."
Coming into the final straight, Taylor was fourth behind Hadi Al-Somaily of Saudi Arabia, fellow American James Carter and Herbert. But he was attacking, and gaining. Clearing the final hurdle in second, he sprinted desperately toward the finish, and just made it, preceding Al-Somaily by perhaps 30cm, 47.50 to 47.53.
What’s next for Taylor? There are the 2001 World Championships in Edmonton, and of course Kevin Young’s 46.78 world record to think about. Edwin Moses, who has become a friend, says, "I think he can improve a lot from the hurdling standpoint – and probably in conditioning, too."
Hinsdale is even more positive, "Angelo is capable of breaking the world record. He’s got that kind of talent. And we’d like to see what he can do in the open 400, where he’s already run 44.89."
At 22 (on December 29), Angelo Taylor could be on his way to greatness.
