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Sally Pearson

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Sally Pearson
Personal information
Nationality Australia
Born (1986-09-19) 19 September 1986 (age 37)
Sydney, Australia
Height1.66 m (5 ft 5 in)[1]
Weight60 kg (130 lb)[1]
WebsiteOfficial Facebook Page
Sport
SportTrack and field
Event(s)100 metres sprint
100 metres hurdles
Coached bySharon Hannan
Achievements and titles
Olympic finals100m hurdles-2008
Personal best(s)11.14s–100 Metre Sprint[2]
12.28s–100 m Hurdles[2]
1:02.98–400 m Hurdles[2]
Medal record
Women's athletics
Representing  Australia
Olympic Games
Silver medal – second place 2008 Beijing 100 m hurdles
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 2011 Daegu 100 m hurdles
Commonwealth Games
Gold medal – first place 2010 Delhi 100 m hurdles
Continental Cup
Gold medal – first place 2010 Split 100 m hurdles
World Junior Championships
Bronze medal – third place 2004 Grosseto 100 m
World Youth Championships
Gold medal – first place 2003 Sherbrooke 100 m hurdles

Sally Pearson (née McLellan) (born 19 September 1986[3]) is an Australian athlete. She is the current World Champion in the 100 metres hurdles with a time of 12.28s. At the 2008 Summer Olympics, she won the silver medal in the 100 m hurdles with a time of 12.64s.

Athletic career

Pearson was born in Sydney and moved to the Gold Coast when she was eight years old. It was there, while she was still in primary school, that her athletic talents were noticed by Sharon Hannan, who remains her coach to this day.[4] Pearson rose to prominence in 2001, when at the age of only 14, she won the Australian under-20 100m title.[5] After injury setbacks during 2002 she made her international debut at the 2003 World Youth Championships in Sherbrooke, Canada and won gold in the 100 m hurdles. The following month, still only 16 years old, she represented Australia at open level at the 2003 World Championships in Paris, France as part of the 4 x 100 m relay team. In 2004 she won a bronze in the 100 m at the World Junior Championships, and just missed out on a medal in the 100 m hurdles.

At the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia, Pearson tripped over a hurdle and fell to the ground during the 100 m hurdles final, costing her the chance of a medal. In 2007 she continued to pursue both the 100 m and the 100 m hurdles, making the semi-final of each event at the World Championships in Osaka, Japan. However in the lead up to the 2008 Olympic Games, she shifted her focus solely to the 100 m hurdles. This decision paid off, with Pearson claiming the silver medal in a dramatic final, where the favourite Lolo Jones stumbled and a photo finish was required to decide the minor medals. After the announcement of the official results a jubilant Pearson celebrated enthusiastically with bronze medal winner Priscilla Lopes-Schliep, and gave an emotional trackside interview.

Pearson was in good form during the 2009 European season, winning five out of seven races and breaking the Australian and Oceanian record in the 100 m hurdles at the Herculis meeting in July, with a time of 12.50 seconds; 0.03 faster than the area record she had set on the same track a year earlier.[6] However she was hampered by back spasms in the lead up to the World Championships in Berlin, and was only able to finish fifth in the 100 m hurdles final.[7]

2010 Commonwealth Games

At the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India, Pearson competed in the 100 m sprint in addition to the 100 m hurdles. In the final of the 100 m she recorded a false start, along with English runner Laura Turner, but was allowed to line up for the restart, crossing the finish line first in a time of 11.28s. However a protest was lodged after the race, which resulted in a distraught Pearson being disqualified.[8][9] Three nights later she went on to win gold in the 100 m hurdles final in 12.67 seconds.[10] Pearson was also controversially included in the Australian team for the final of the women's 4 x 400 m relay, an event she had not trained for, and collapsed after running the anchor leg, the Australian team having finished in fifth place. Even though she thought she had let the team down, her team mates comforted her.[11]

At the beginning of the next season, she won the 100 m, 200 m and 100 m hurdles to become the first Australian woman to win three national titles at the same event since Pam Kilborn had done in 1968.[12]

2011 World Championships

At the 2011 World Championships in Daegu, South Korea, Pearson ran a 100m hurdles time of 12.28s (+1.1), the fourth fastest time in history, following the semi-finals where she produced the equal fifth fastest time in history of 12.36s (+0.3) to beat her own Oceanian area record and Australian national record.

Personal life

Pearson was raised by her single mother Anne, who worked two jobs to make enough money to support her daughter's athletic career.[3] In late 2008 she became engaged to Kieran Pearson, the pair having been together since their senior year at Helensvale State High School on Queensland's Gold Coast.[13] In April 2010 they married on the Gold Coast, and honeymooned in Los Angeles and Hawaii.[14]

Achievements

Year Competition Venue Position Notes
2003 World Youth Championships Sherbrooke, Canada 1st 100 m hurdles
5th 200 m
World Championships Paris, France heats 4 x 100 m relay
2004 World Junior Championships Grosseto, Italy 4th 100 m hurdles
3rd 100 m
5th 4 x 100 m relay
2006 Commonwealth Games Melbourne, Australia 8th 100 m
World Cup Athens, Greece 4th 100 m hurdles
8th 100 m
2007 World Championships Osaka, Japan semis 100 m
semis 100 m hurdles
heats 4 x 100 m relay
2008 Olympic Games Beijing, China 2nd 100 m hurdles
2009 World Championships Berlin, Germany 5th 100 m hurdles
2010 Commonwealth Games New Delhi, India 1st 100 m hurdles
2011 World Championships Daegu, South Korea 1st 100 m hurdles

Personal bests

Notes

  1. ^ a b “Athlete Profiles-Sally Pearson”, Athletics Australia, 2010, Retrieved on 2010-10-08
  2. ^ a b c d Biography: Sally Pearson” International Association of Athletics Federations, Retrieved on 2010-10-08
  3. ^ a b Halloran, Jessica (2008-06-07) "Hurdles a way of life for Sally" Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved on 2009-09-07.
  4. ^ Gullan, Scott (2008-08-20). "Silver Sally ran her own race". The Australian. Retrieved on 2009-09-07.
  5. ^ “Athlete Profiles-Sally Pearson-Sporting Career”, Athletics Australia, 2010, Retrieved on 2010-10-08
  6. ^ Turner, Chris (2009-07-28). "Hurdlers delight on a spectacular evening in Monaco – Area record for McLellan". IAAF. Retrieved on 2009-07-31.
  7. ^ Gullan, Scott (2009-08-20). "Sally Pearson fifth in women's 100m hurdles in Berlin". The Australian. Retrieved on 2009-09-07.
  8. ^ Reuters (2009-10-07). “Games-Oludamola wins 100m after Pearson disqualified”. Reuters. Retrieved on 2010-10-07
  9. ^ "Pearson 'shouldn't have been allowed to run' ", ABC Grandstand Sport. 2010-10-08, Retrieved on 2010-10-08
  10. ^ “Pearson bounces back with gold”. ABC Grandstand Sport. 11-10-2010. Retrieved on 11-10-2010
  11. ^ Brown, Alex (2010-10-13) "Pearson collapses after the hardest race of her life". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved on 2011-01-18.
  12. ^ Johnson, Len (2011-04-17). Watt leaps 8.44m, Pearson scores triple victory as curtain falls on Melbourne’s Olympic Park. IAAF. Retrieved on 2011-04-23.
  13. ^ Grant, Dwayne (2008-01-24) "Sally's story". goldcoast.com.au. Retrieved on 2009-09-07
  14. ^ Lewis, David (2010-10-01) "Duo overcome hurdles for Games gold". goldcoast.com.au. Retrieved on 2010-10-08

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