Gail DEVERS

After showing early promise as a 100m sprinter and 100m hurdler, Gail Devers was selected to compete in her first Olympic Games at Seoul in 1988. It was not an auspicious start to her international career, as she was eliminated (8th) in her semi-final. However, what was more significant, is that while training for the Seoul her health started to deteriorate. Her condition was later diagnosed as Graves' disease, a debilitating thyroid disorder. Devers was in such a bad way that her doctors were contemplating amputating both her feet. Devers perseverance to overcome the disease has become one of the most inspirational stories in athletics history. She returned to training in 1991 and started to improve rapidly. In June, she won the 100m hurdles at the US national championships in New York in a time of 12.83sec, which qualified her for her first World Championships at Tokyo in August.

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At Tokyo, she split the favoured Soviet pair of Lyudmila Narozhilenko and Natalya Grigoryeva to win the silver medal in 12.63sec. In 1992, at the US national championships (and Olympic trials) in New Orleans, she came second in the 100m behind Gwen Torrence and won the 100m hurdles in 12.55sec, her fastest time that season. Although she wasn't considered one of the favourites for the 100m at the Olympic Games in Barcelona, she made it through to the final, and then in a minor upset, won a very fast race to win her first Olympic Gold medal in 10.82sec (the photo above shows a very happy Devers after the race). The situation looked more certain in the 100m hurdles where, with the withdrawal of Narozhilenko in the semi-finals, Devers became a clear favourite. In the final however, she smashed into the final hurdle, and finished in fifth place. (Ron Casey)

After her win in the Olympic 100m, Gail Devers was eager in 1993 to not only repeat this victory, at the World Championships, but also to atone for her disastrous fall when leading the Olympic 100m Hurdles final. She started the year well, winning the 60m at the World Indoor titles at Toronto on 12 March in 6.95sec beating Russian Irina Privalova. After a domestic outdoor season that included a win in the 100m at the US national championships in a wind-assisted 10.82, she travelled to Europe to prepare for the World Championships to be held at Stuttgart in August. At Lausanne on 7 July she won the 100m in 10.82sec, the equal fastest time run in 1993, beating 1992 Olympic finalists Merlene Ottey (Jamaica), Gwen Torrence (USA) and Privalova in the process.

In the 100m final at Stuttgart, Devers, Ottey, Privalova and Torrence drew the middle four lanes. Devers and Privalova got away quickest and by 60 metres Devers was in the lead, but Ottey was closing fast. Devers and Ottey hit the tape together, and after an agonising wait for the photo-finish result, it was determined that Devers had won by one thousandth of a second (10.811sec to 10.812sec). As expected in the 100m Hurdles, her main competition came from Russian Marina Azyabina, but Devers won easily in a US record time of 12.46sec.(see photo above). Running the anchor for the US team in the 4 x 100m relay, Devers received the baton at the same time that Privalova received the baton for Russia. The two battled neck and neck down the straight and hit the line together, involving Devers in her second photo-finish of the Championships. This time however, the decision went against her, and the US team had to be content with the silver. (Ron Casey)

Compared with her successes in the previous two years, Gail Devers had a relatively lean year in 1994. Although she recorded a personal best of 7.85sec for the indoors 60 metres hurdles on 6 February, she did not compete over the hurdles outdoors due to hamstring troubles. In the 100m, she retained her US national title, running 11.12sec at Knoxville on 16 June. Earlier, she had recorded an extremely fast but wind-assisted 10.77sec at San Jose on 28 May. She returned to hurdles competition in 1995, but with her hamstring still tender, raced sparingly. At Sacramento, on 18 June, she won the US national 100m hurdles title, which she had last won in 1992, in a time of 12.77sec, having run 12.61sec in winning her semi-final, her fastest time of the year.

Leading up to the World Championships held in Gothenburg in August that year, the 100m hurdles had been dominated by Olga Shishigina for Kazakhstan. Shishigina was unbeaten in 10 hurdles races during the season including a best time of 12.44sec and two other times faster than Devers' seasonal best. At Gothenburg, the final on August 6 turned out as expected to be a showdown between Devers and Shishigina. Although Devers got a bad start, she was clearly faster between the hurdles, and despite Shishiginaís better hurdling technique, Devers won comfortably in 12.68sec compared to 12.80sec for Shishigina. Ten days later at the Weltklasse meet at Zurich, Shishigina suffered her second defeat of the season when Devers again beat her, although the margin (12.75sec to 12.82sec) was closer than it was in Gothenburg. Devers didn't do too much sprinting during 1995, although she did produce a fast 11.04sec for 100m at Long Beach in July. (Ron Casey)

As the year 1996 dawned, Gail Devers, the reigning Olympic 100m champion, was looking forward to defending her title in front of a home crowd in Atlanta. She was also keen to atone for her defeat four years earlier in the 100m hurdles. The US national championships in Atlanta in June doubled that year as the US Olympic Trials. Devers retained her 100m hurdles title in a time of 12.62sec and was second behind Gwen Torrence in the 100m.

The Olympic 100m final was held on 27 July, and before the event it seemed that the main competition to Devers would come from Torrence and Merlene Ottey (Jamaica) who Devers had beaten by one thousandth of a second in the 100m at the 1993 World Championships. Torrence beat the other two out of the blocks, but Devers quickly established a slight lead. Ottey closed with her characteristic late surge and she and Devers hit the tape locked together in another tight finish. The luckless Ottey again lost a major championship by an extremely narrow margin (5/1000 sec), and Devers (pictured above with her Gold medal 27th. July 1996. © G .H.) had successfully defended her Olympic crown.

Devers was foiled again in her quest to win the Olympic 100m hurdles title finishing 4th in the final, only 0.01sec behind the bronze medallist. She did however gain another gold medal in the 4 x 100m relay final. With Devers running the second leg and Torrence the anchor, the US foursome easily won in 41.95sec. At the 1997 World Championships in Athens, Devers only qualified on the US team in the 4 x 100m relay. There she added to her gold medal tally by anchoring the US team with an incredible 9.86sec leg to an easy victory in 41.47sec. (Ron Casey)

 Gail Devers sat out the 1998 season, but returned as good as ever in 1999. She started off the year by placing second in the 60m in 7.02sec at the World indoor championships at Maebashi, Japan on 7 March. At 33 years of age, Devers was reaching the veteran category, and she raced sparingly during the outdoor season, concentrating on quality rather than quantity. At the US national championships at Eugene in June, Devers won the 100m hurdles in a wind-assisted 12.54sec and placed a close second to Inger Miller in the 100m. In August, competing in her fifth World Championships, at Seville, she finished second in her 100m semi-final behind Marion Jones (USA), but in the final could only manage fifth place behind Jones. The field in the 100m hurdles besides Devers included the defending champion Ludmila Engquist (Sweden) and the two athletes who had dominated the season up to then, Alozie Glory (Nigeria) and Olga Shishigina (Kazakhstan).

Devers easily won her heat in 12.80sec (see photo above) and semi-final in 12.70sec. In the final she got a lightning start and was never headed, winning in a new US record of 12.37sec from Glory and Engquist. The US 4 x 100m relay team, anchored by Devers, easily won their heat in the fastest time of 42.28sec, but in the final they were outclassed by superior baton passing and could manage only fourth place. In the early part of 2000, she injured her right achilles tendon and left hamstring and was sidelined for two months. Despite these injuries she easily won the 100m hurdles final at the Olympic trials in a new US record of 12.33sec. At the Sydney Olympic Games, she breezed through her heat, but in her semi-final, the injuries resurfaced, forcing her to abandon the race. (Ron Casey)