Aug. 4, 2011

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By D'Ambour Lewis
Faster Than Forty.com

Many people remember Renaldo Nehemiah for the way he cleared flights of hurdles with beauty and finesse. He was the first person to break the 13-second barrier - and 30 years later, fewer than a dozen men have done the same. Winning the NCAA Championships twice and being named the 1979 Penn Relays MVP (after anchoring the shuttle hurdle relay, 4 x 100-meter relay, 4 x 200-meter relay, and 4 x 400-meter relays) are additional credits on Nehemiah's resume. Few people realize that despite his numerous accomplishments, Nehemiah does not have an Olympic medal.

"Ninety percent of people make the mistake of believing that I won an Olympic medal," Nehemiah says. "I am often introduced as `Renaldo Nehemiah, Olympic medalist,' and immediately after [I say] thank you, I have to correct them."

Just when it seemed that Nehemiah was at the top of his game and ready to compete on a world stage, President Jimmy Carter decided to boycott the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow. Although it has taken Nehemiah some time to get over what could have been at Moscow, he does not believe that it has changed how he is viewed as an athlete.

"An athlete is not defined by their last race," Nehemiah says. "Even without an Olympic medal, people still remember my races and my accomplishments. People still randomly come up to me and say they remember watching me when I ran at Penn Relays... or when I trained at Byrd Stadium.

"Yeah, I think about what I could have done at the 1980 Olympics because I was [ranked] number-one at that time," Nehemiah admits. "But the positive things people come and say to me or about me... and the things I have been able to give back to the sport - that's my gold medal."

For the rest of the article, click here to go to FasterThanForty.com.

D'Ambour Lewis is a senior track and field athlete at the University of Maryland who is pursuing a journalism degree