Jason Richardson (athlete)
Encyclopedia
Jason Richardson is a American
track and field
athlete who specialises in the 110 meter hurdles. His personal best for the event is 13.08 seconds, set in August 2011. He is coached by John Smith
, who also trains Carmelita Jeter
and previously coached Maurice Greene
.
He was a double gold medalist at the 2003 World Youth Championships in Athletics
, taking both 110 m and 400 meter hurdles titles to become the first person ever to win both hurdles events at a world championships. Richardson went on to win the NCAA Outdoor title
in the shorter event while at the University of South Carolina
in 2008. He won his first senior national medal at the 2011 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships
, taking third place.
He won his first world title in the 110 meter hurdles at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics
.
, he began taking part in sports at the age of 12. Despite having a talent for hurdling
, his parents were initially hesitant in encouraging him to compete in track and field. For Richardson and his family, the focus was his education: having represented his school at a national level on their debate team, he saw the discipline more as a way of pursuing further academic study via a college scholarship. By the time he graduated from Cedar Hill High School, he had run the third fastest ever time in the 400 meter hurdles for a high school athlete. In his first international outing at the 2003 World Youth Championships in Athletics
, he completed a novel 110 m and 400 m hurdles double, taking both gold medal
s in personal record times. This made him the first person ever to win a hurdles double at a major athletics championship and earned him that year's Youth Athlete of the Year award from USA Track and Field
.
In 2005, he obtained a McKissick Scholarship and enrolled at the University of South Carolina
to study sports and entertainment management. He began to focus more on short-sprint hurdling and ran for the South Carolina Gamecocks
, taking NCAA bronze medal
s indoors and outdoors in his first year at the college. Injury affected his 2006 indoor season and he failed to finish at the NCAA Indoor Championship after falling at the second hurdle. He was runner-up in both hurdles competitions at the SEC Championships outdoors, and then went on to another third place finish in the 110 m NCAA contest. He did not make the NCAA 400 m hurdles final, despite running a time of 49.82 seconds in the semi-finals. He closed the year with a silver medal
over 110 m hurdles at the NACAC U23 Championships.
Richardson focused on his studies in 2007 as an injury ruled him out of the track season. His final year at South Carolina (2008) proved to be his most successful. In the 60 meter hurdles indoors, he was runner-up at the Millrose Games
, Tyson Invitational and the SEC Indoors. He was also the silver medalist at the NCAA Indoor Championship, where he ran a personal best of 7.53 seconds, but lost by a fraction of a second in a photo finish
. In the outdoor season, he won the SEC Championship title in the 110 m hurdles and ran a personal best of 13.21 seconds to claim the NCAA Regional title. A win at the NCAA Outdoors brought him a SEC/NCAA Regional/NCAA hat-trick. He was named South Carolina's MVP both outdoors and indoors that year and he was also chosen at the USTFCCCA Scholar Athlete of the Year. Following a win at the NACAC Under-23 Championships in championship record time, he went on to compete at the United States Olympic Trials
, although a hamstring
injury in the qualifiers ruled out his selection chances.
He turned professional for the 2009 season and focused solely on the 110 m hurdles; his best run of the year (13.29 sec) came in Gainesville, Florida
. He ran on the IAAF Diamond League
circuit in Europe the next year, but came last in the 110 m hurdles final at the 2010 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships
. He twice ran a personal record time of 13.15 seconds at the 2011 USA Championships
and was rewarded with third place behind David Oliver and Aries Merritt
, gaining his first senior international selection in the process. During the 2011 IAAF Diamond League season, he won at the DN Galan
and came second to Dayron Robles
at the London Grand Prix
with a personal record run of 13.08 seconds.
On August 29, 2011, Richardson ran 13.16 to win the 110 meter hurdles World Championship
in Daegu
, South Korea
, after Robles (the initial winner) was disqualified for impeding Liu Xiang
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
track and field
Track and field
Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...
athlete who specialises in the 110 meter hurdles. His personal best for the event is 13.08 seconds, set in August 2011. He is coached by John Smith
John Smith (athlete)
John Walton Smith is a former American athlete, who competed in the sprints events during his career. He is best known for winning the men's 400 metres event at the 1971 Pan American Games....
, who also trains Carmelita Jeter
Carmelita Jeter
Carmelita Jeter is an American sprinter who specializes in the 100 meters. She is the 2011 IAAF World Champion in the 100 metres.She won the 100 m bronze at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics and a gold at the World Athletics Final. she won a second World Championship bronze...
and previously coached Maurice Greene
Maurice Greene (athlete)
Maurice Greene is a retired American track and field sprinter who specialized in the 100 meters and 200 meters. He is a former 100 m world record holder with a time of 9.79 seconds. During the height of his career he won four Olympic medals and was a five-time World Champion...
.
He was a double gold medalist at the 2003 World Youth Championships in Athletics
2003 World Youth Championships in Athletics
The 2003 World Youth Championships in Athletics is the 2003 version of the World Youth Championships in Athletics. It was held in Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada from the 9th to the 13th of July.-Boys:-Girls:-Medals table:-External links:*...
, taking both 110 m and 400 meter hurdles titles to become the first person ever to win both hurdles events at a world championships. Richardson went on to win the NCAA Outdoor title
NCAA Men's Outdoor Track and Field Championship
The NCAA Men's Outdoor Track and Field Championship is an annual collegiate outdoor track and field competition for men organised by the National Collegiate Athletic Association. It has three divisions: Division I, II, and III. Athlete's individual performances earn points for their institution and...
in the shorter event while at the University of South Carolina
University of South Carolina
The University of South Carolina is a public, co-educational research university located in Columbia, South Carolina, United States, with 7 surrounding satellite campuses. Its historic campus covers over in downtown Columbia not far from the South Carolina State House...
in 2008. He won his first senior national medal at the 2011 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships
2011 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships
The 2011 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships were held at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon. Organised by USA Track and Field, the four-day competition took place from June 23–26 and served as the national championships in track and field for the United States...
, taking third place.
He won his first world title in the 110 meter hurdles at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics
2011 World Championships in Athletics
The 13th IAAF World Championships in Athletics was an international athletics competition that was held in Daegu, South Korea. It started on 27 August 2011 and finished on 4 September 2011....
.
Career
Growing up in Cedar Hill, TexasCedar Hill, Texas
Cedar Hill is a city in Dallas and Ellis Counties in the U.S. state of Texas. It is located approximately sixteen miles southwest of downtown Dallas and is situated along the eastern shore of Joe Pool Lake and Cedar Hill State Park. The population was 32,093 at the 2000 census...
, he began taking part in sports at the age of 12. Despite having a talent for hurdling
Hurdling
Hurdling is a type of track and field race.- Distances :There are sprint hurdle races and long hurdle races. The standard sprint hurdle race is 110 meters for men and 100 meters for women. The standard long hurdle race is 400 meters for both men and women...
, his parents were initially hesitant in encouraging him to compete in track and field. For Richardson and his family, the focus was his education: having represented his school at a national level on their debate team, he saw the discipline more as a way of pursuing further academic study via a college scholarship. By the time he graduated from Cedar Hill High School, he had run the third fastest ever time in the 400 meter hurdles for a high school athlete. In his first international outing at the 2003 World Youth Championships in Athletics
2003 World Youth Championships in Athletics
The 2003 World Youth Championships in Athletics is the 2003 version of the World Youth Championships in Athletics. It was held in Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada from the 9th to the 13th of July.-Boys:-Girls:-Medals table:-External links:*...
, he completed a novel 110 m and 400 m hurdles double, taking both gold medal
Gold medal
A gold medal is typically the medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture...
s in personal record times. This made him the first person ever to win a hurdles double at a major athletics championship and earned him that year's Youth Athlete of the Year award from USA Track and Field
USA Track and Field
USA Track & Field is the United States national governing body for the sports of track and field, cross country running, road running and racewalking...
.
In 2005, he obtained a McKissick Scholarship and enrolled at the University of South Carolina
University of South Carolina
The University of South Carolina is a public, co-educational research university located in Columbia, South Carolina, United States, with 7 surrounding satellite campuses. Its historic campus covers over in downtown Columbia not far from the South Carolina State House...
to study sports and entertainment management. He began to focus more on short-sprint hurdling and ran for the South Carolina Gamecocks
South Carolina Gamecocks
The University of South Carolina's 19 varsity sports teams are known as the "Gamecocks". The unique moniker is held in honor of Thomas Sumter, a South Carolina war hero who was given the name "The Carolina Gamecock" during the American Revolution for his fierce fighting tactics, regardless of his...
, taking NCAA bronze medal
Bronze medal
A bronze medal is a medal awarded to the third place finisher of contests such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The practice of awarding bronze third place medals began at the 1904 Olympic Games in St...
s indoors and outdoors in his first year at the college. Injury affected his 2006 indoor season and he failed to finish at the NCAA Indoor Championship after falling at the second hurdle. He was runner-up in both hurdles competitions at the SEC Championships outdoors, and then went on to another third place finish in the 110 m NCAA contest. He did not make the NCAA 400 m hurdles final, despite running a time of 49.82 seconds in the semi-finals. He closed the year with a silver medal
Silver medal
A silver medal is a medal awarded to the second place finisher of contests such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, and contests with similar formats....
over 110 m hurdles at the NACAC U23 Championships.
Richardson focused on his studies in 2007 as an injury ruled him out of the track season. His final year at South Carolina (2008) proved to be his most successful. In the 60 meter hurdles indoors, he was runner-up at the Millrose Games
Millrose Games
The Millrose Games is an annual indoor athletics meet held on the first Friday in February in New York City. They will be held at the Armory in Washington Heights in 2012, after having taken place in Madison Square Garden from 1914 to 2011...
, Tyson Invitational and the SEC Indoors. He was also the silver medalist at the NCAA Indoor Championship, where he ran a personal best of 7.53 seconds, but lost by a fraction of a second in a photo finish
Photo finish
A photo finish occurs in a sporting race, when two competitors cross the finishing line at near the same time. As the naked eye may not be able to discriminate between which of the competitors crossed the line first, a strip photo, a series of rapidly triggered photographs, or a video taken at the...
. In the outdoor season, he won the SEC Championship title in the 110 m hurdles and ran a personal best of 13.21 seconds to claim the NCAA Regional title. A win at the NCAA Outdoors brought him a SEC/NCAA Regional/NCAA hat-trick. He was named South Carolina's MVP both outdoors and indoors that year and he was also chosen at the USTFCCCA Scholar Athlete of the Year. Following a win at the NACAC Under-23 Championships in championship record time, he went on to compete at the United States Olympic Trials
United States Olympic Trials (track and field)
The United States Olympic Trials for the sport of Track and Field is the quadrennial meet to select the United States representatives at the Olympic Games. Since 1992, the meet has also served as the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. Because of the depth of competition in some events,...
, although a hamstring
Hamstring
In human anatomy, the hamstring refers to any one of the three posterior thigh muscles, or to the tendons that make up the borders of the space behind the knee. In modern anatomical contexts, however, they usually refer to the posterior thigh muscles, or the tendons of the semitendinosus, the...
injury in the qualifiers ruled out his selection chances.
He turned professional for the 2009 season and focused solely on the 110 m hurdles; his best run of the year (13.29 sec) came in Gainesville, Florida
Gainesville, Florida
Gainesville is the largest city in, and the county seat of, Alachua County, Florida, United States as well as the principal city of the Gainesville, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area . The preliminary 2010 Census population count for Gainesville is 124,354. Gainesville is home to the sixth...
. He ran on the IAAF Diamond League
IAAF Diamond League
The Samsung Diamond League is an annual series of track and field meetings held from 2010 onwards, beginning with the 2010 IAAF Diamond League...
circuit in Europe the next year, but came last in the 110 m hurdles final at the 2010 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships
2010 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships
The 2010 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships were held at Drake Stadium, Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa on June 23-27, 2010. In order to boost the visibility of this event, USATF sponsored a member appreciation tent at the event and promoted the entire week as "Membership appreciation...
. He twice ran a personal record time of 13.15 seconds at the 2011 USA Championships
2011 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships
The 2011 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships were held at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon. Organised by USA Track and Field, the four-day competition took place from June 23–26 and served as the national championships in track and field for the United States...
and was rewarded with third place behind David Oliver and Aries Merritt
Aries Merritt
Aries Merritt is an American hurdler who specialises in the 110 meters hurdles.Merritt had a successful college athletic career: in 2006 he won the NCCA Championships, was undefeated in all hurdles events that year, and he broke Willie Gault's University of Tennessee hurdles record...
, gaining his first senior international selection in the process. During the 2011 IAAF Diamond League season, he won at the DN Galan
DN Galan
-External links:**...
and came second to Dayron Robles
Dayron Robles
Dayron Robles is a track and field athlete who specialises in the 110 metre hurdles.He won his first major medal in the 60 metres hurdles at the 2006 World Indoor Championships. He finished the 2006 season having improved his outdoor best to 13 seconds and become the Central American and...
at the London Grand Prix
London Grand Prix
The Aviva London Grand Prix is an annual athletics event at the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre in London, England.Previously one of the five IAAF Super Grand Prix events, it is now part of the IAAF Diamond League...
with a personal record run of 13.08 seconds.
On August 29, 2011, Richardson ran 13.16 to win the 110 meter hurdles World Championship
2011 World Championships in Athletics
The 13th IAAF World Championships in Athletics was an international athletics competition that was held in Daegu, South Korea. It started on 27 August 2011 and finished on 4 September 2011....
in Daegu
Daegu
Daegu , also known as Taegu, and officially the Daegu Metropolitan City, is a city in South Korea, the fourth largest after Seoul, Busan, and Incheon, and the third largest metropolitan area in the country with over 2.5 million residents. The city is the capital and principal city of the...
, South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
, after Robles (the initial winner) was disqualified for impeding Liu Xiang
Liu Xiang
Liu Xiang is a Chinese 110 meter hurdler. Liu is an Olympic Gold medalist and World Champion. His 2004 Olympic gold medal was the first in a men's track and field event for China....
.
Achievements
| Representing | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | World Youth Championships 2003 World Youth Championships in Athletics The 2003 World Youth Championships in Athletics is the 2003 version of the World Youth Championships in Athletics. It was held in Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada from the 9th to the 13th of July.-Boys:-Girls:-Medals table:-External links:*... |
Sherbrooke, Canada Canada Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean... |
1st | 110 m hurdles (91.4 cm) | 13.29 |
| 1st | 400 m hurdles (84.0 cm) | ||||
| 2006 | NACAC U23 Championships | Santo Domingo Santo Domingo Santo Domingo, known officially as Santo Domingo de Guzmán, is the capital and largest city in the Dominican Republic. Its metropolitan population was 2,084,852 in 2003, and estimated at 3,294,385 in 2010. The city is located on the Caribbean Sea, at the mouth of the Ozama River... , Dominican Republic |
2nd | 110 m hurdles | |
| 2008 | NACAC U23 Championships | Toluca Toluca Toluca, formally known as Toluca de Lerdo, is the state capital of Mexico State as well as the seat of the Municipality of Toluca. It is the center of a rapidly growing urban area, now the fifth largest in Mexico. It is located west-southwest of Mexico City and only about 40 minutes by car to the... , Mexico |
1st | 110 m hurdles | 13.32 CR |
| 2011 | 2011 World Championships | Daegu Daegu Daegu , also known as Taegu, and officially the Daegu Metropolitan City, is a city in South Korea, the fourth largest after Seoul, Busan, and Incheon, and the third largest metropolitan area in the country with over 2.5 million residents. The city is the capital and principal city of the... , South Korea |
1st | 110 m hurdles 2011 World Championships in Athletics – Men's 110 metres hurdles The Men's 110 metres hurdles at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Daegu Stadium on August 28 and 29.The final featured the three fastest 110 hurdlers in history. The result was controversial. World Record Holder Dayron Robles took an early lead but was being passed by... |
13.16 s |