Terrence Trammell qualifies for the 110m hurdles final (© Getty Images)
Perhaps the most overlooked medal contender at last August's World Championships in Paris was American hurdler Terrence Trammell.
Despite his credentials, he was hobbled by injury throughout the year, and Paris was, after all, to be only his fourth meet of the outdoor season. In his third outing, just ten days before the Paris opening rounds, he finished last. However, after he chased his training partner Allen Johnson to the wire to capture the World silver, Trammell provided ample evidence that he should never ever be counted out.
Indoor rampage and injury nightmare
The Atlanta native, who turned 25 on 23 November 2003, began last year on a rampage. At mid-February's Tyson Invitational, Trammell turned in mid-season world-leading performances in both the 60m (6.46) and 60m Hurdles (7.42) in a span of two hours. Two weeks later, after six races in a single day, he finished second in both events at the US indoor championships, earning two team berths for the World Indoor Championships.
He arrived in Birmingham as a major medal contender in both events, but disaster struck in the opening round of the dash. A hamstring injury, one that would linger the entire year, forced his immediate departure from competition.
He didn't race again until the national championships in late June, but bounced back well enough to finish second to Johnson. All seemed well. But after a third place showing at Oslo's Bislett Games the following week, the injury reappeared, and was later diagnosed by a Canadian specialist as a hip problem.
"We kept treating it as solely a hamstring problem," he said. "Each time I would run, or run fast, I would re-injure it."
Back at the right time
Fully healed, Trammell arrived in Paris with positive expectations. "Actually yes, I felt I could make the podium."
With his injury woes and three long separate rehab breaks behind him, he said, "I was able to have some pretty good practices. It was more a matter of whether or not I was ready mentally to compete." He finished second, again to Johnson, in 13.20. "I was extremely happy about being able to win a medal, especially silver, with the race being so close, because I just didn't get a chance to compete."
He capped the year with a seasonal best 13.17 for second at the World Athletics Final in Monaco, and then a win in Yokohama.
"Overall, I had a good year, considering the injury," he said. "I was really grateful to come back at the right times and perform well. That meant a lot to me to be able to do that. I'm just building on that, the fact that I was able to do well with a limited amount of training."
His first love…
Trammell began competing in track as an eighth grader in Atlanta, mainly, he said, to keep in shape for football, his first love.
"I knew it was pretty fast, but it was just something to do. After a while, it turned into something a whole lot bigger. I was progressing a lot faster than I probably intended to." He ended his high school career in 1997 as an All-American in both sports, before moving on to the University of South Carolina where he made an immediate impact. He finished second in the 1998 NCAA championships in the Hurdles, and ended his freshman year with a 13.32 best. The following year he moved up a notch at the NCAA outdoor championships, added an indoor Hurdles title to his resume, and won gold at the World University Games, ending the season with 13.28 and 10.08 bests.
2000 Olympic silver
In 2000, he repeated as indoor and outdoor NCAA Hurdles champion, won the US national indoor title at 60m, and finished third in the hurdles at the Olympic Trials. Still just 21, he went on to claim the silver medal in Sydney with a PB 13.16.
"I heard from a lot of people who were not expecting me to go that far," he recalls of his Olympic experience, one he still relishes. "I think the biggest thing I learned was no matter how big the situation is or how intense the moment, you just really have to focus on yourself. You don't want to get too caught up in the hype." And, he adds, the experience proved that he had finally arrived. "It allowed me to see that I was capable of competing on that type of level against that type of competition."
No indoor season in build-up to Athens
After some thoughtful debate, he said he has decided to forego the upcoming indoor season, choosing instead to build a strong conditioning base for his 2004 Olympic bid. After nearly six years in Columbia, South Carolina, he recently moved back to his Atlanta roots, where he trains with his high school coach Napoleon Cobb. Among his training partners is Angelo Taylor, the 2000 Olympic champion in the 400m Hurdles.
A flat and Hurdles double
While his environment may be new, his goals for the year are similar to those of a year ago: an aim to make the US team for Athens in both the Hurdles and the 100m, one that would etch the achievement in the history books.
"The type of training that we're doing and the kind of mindset that we have, I think that the situation will be ideal for me to run my best races this season. I haven't run many 100s in the past couple years, but I feel pretty positive about my ability to run it." His PB in the dash, a 10.04 from 2000, gives some indication that the double is indeed doable. "I don't think that it's impossible."
The competition in both events, will, of course, be ferociously intense. "We have eight to ten guys right here in the States who can medal in the Games. It'll definitely be a great match-up with any combination of those ten."
American Harrison Dillard is the only athlete to claim Olympic gold in both events, but he did it in two separate Olympics, winning the dash in 1948 and his specialty in 1952.
"That was quite a feat that he accomplished," Trammell, who lists the study of track history as one of his hobbies, said. "And that's a motivational tool for me. I've never met him, but I was really inspired after I heard his story. That's a rare feat. And that would be a major accomplishment, if I could come close to what he did." And he intends to try. "It's always worth a shot. You can't win if you don't play."