Passion, perfection and taking care of your body are Foster Hylton’s secrets

One year has brought quite a change in the fortunes of Jamaica's Brigitte Foster-Hylton. Fifth place and $5000 at the 2008 IAAF / VTB Bank World Athletics Final turned into first place and U$30,000 in Thessaloniki 2009, and the 34-year-old was one of the happiest athletes to pass through the athlete/press Mixed Zone at the Kaftanzoglio Stadium. She had just continued the unbeaten run which started in the heats at the World Championships.

I do hope that the reviews of the 2009 season include footage of the moment Foster-Hylton realised she had become World champion. Those around her after the race immediately told her she had won, but she waited until she saw her name on the scoreboard before screaming her delight and celebrating in tears and hysterics.

It was a reaction we all love to see at championships and was especially nice in the women's 100m Hurdles, an event which has brought such heartbreak in the past. Remember Devers 1992, Felicien 2004 and Jones 2008.

The success of this popular athlete was even more sweet because though she has been at the top for the entire decade, she hasn't done herself justice in her biggest races. World bronze was okay in 2005 but she had been expected to win two years earlier in Paris when she won the silver. Commonwealth and Pan-Am Games golds, yes, but no Olympic medal. Even in Beijing, when two of her arch-rivals - Lolo Jones and Susanna Kallur - had crashed out of contention. lt was this outcome which very nearly caused her to end her career one at this point last year.

"I was disappointed that I didn't get a medal. And when you were a part of the Jamaican team from Beijing and not get a medal, that didn't help."

She went through the motions after Stuttgart 2008, then in the far east,but "mentally I had retired then."

She did, however, keep her training ticking over and that autumn got a call from her coach Stephen Francis.

"It took him a few hours to dissuade me [from stopping]. He just told me I thought I wasn't fair to myself because I'd had major surgery on my hamstring the previous year. It came off the tendon they had to re-attach it. And it was the first year back. He said I didn't give the hamstring a full chance to get strong, I was very unreasonable to myself, I was asking too much of myself and I should give it a fair chance."

Did she believe the man who also coaches fellow World champions Shelly-Ann Fraser and Melaine Walker, not to mention Asafa Powell?

"No, not really" she laughed. But I had confidence in him, and I knew he knew what was best for me so I decided to do it. I thought, okay I'm going to go back, I'm going to relax and train for the love of it. I had absolutely no expectations whatsoever and I think that made a difference, I didn't have that pressure on myself."

Foster-Hylton did not win a race before Berlin, but Francis has since been proved to be perfectly right.

"This year, 2009, I'm healthy," she explained "I'm not wearing any knee straps or any kinesiology tape, I'm healthy for once, thank god."

So any thoughts of retirement now that she has the big gold ? "Absolutely not," exclaimed the woman who will be officially a veteran in athletics terms on November 7. "I have learned so much this year, and I'm having so much fun. And you know as a professional. I just think I  should come back and run next year."

And London 2012?

"No! I can't see that far yet. I'm still an old girl! The training is pretty hard and it takes a toll on my body sometimes. It's longer for me to recover between training sessions. So we'll see. And after such a hard season maybe my training will change next season because it's not a championship year, just the Commonwealths. I'm not sure I'll do that since I already have the Commonwealth title. I might just recover from such a tough season running so many fast times and get ready for the following year."

So having at last found the formula for a successful season, what are Foster-Hylton's golden rules?

"I would start by saying just have a passion about what you are doing. Enjoy doing it. Do it for the love of it and put everything in it. Two, aim for perfection at all times. The hurdle is one of those events where you just always have to have something to challenge you, to keep you motivated and keep you going. And third, just take care of your body."

So the immediate future for the new World champion will be races in Shanghai and Daegu, and then a special treat which has been on Coach Francis' banned list all summer.

"I'm looking forward to having some cheesecake from my favourite cheesecake place," she raved.

What flavour?

"Dew Plum, it's a tropical fruit."

She's earned every crumb.

Mark Butler for the IAAF

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Brigitte Ann Foster-Hylton was born in St Elizabeth (Jamaica) on November 7, 1974. She is 1.70
tall and weighs 62kg

Her major championship placings:
IAAF World Championships: 2001-sf, 2003-silver, 2005-bronze, 2009-gold Olympic Games:
2000-8th, 2004-sf, 2008-6th IAAF World Indoor Championships: 2004-sf, 2003-6th IAAF World
Cup: 2002-2nd, 2006-1st IAAF World Athletics Final: 2003-8th, 2005-2nd, 2006/2008-5th, 2009-
1st Commonwealth Games: 1998-5th, 2002-dns final (injured), 2006-gold Pan-American
Games: 2003-gold

She won the Jamaican title in 2002/2003/2006/2008 and tied for the title with with Deloreen Ennis-London in 2005

1993 14.22
1994 13.34
1996 13.34
1998 13.13w/13.19
1999 13.35
2000 12.70
2001 12.70
2002 12.49
2003 12.45
2004 12.56
2005 12.55
2006 12.49
2007 12.71
2008 12.49
2009 12.46