Tonique Williams-Darling (born January 17, 1976 in Nassau, Bahamas

Nassau, Bahamas

Nassau is the capital, largest city, and commercial centre of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas. The city has a population of 248,948 , 70 percent of the entire population of The Bahamas...

) is a Bahamian sprint

Sprint (race)

Sprints are short running events in athletics and track and field. Races over short distances are among the oldest running competitions. The first 13 editions of the Ancient Olympic Games featured only one event—the stadion race, which was a race from one end of the stadium to the other...

 athlete. She won the gold medal in the 400 meters

Athletics at the 2004 Summer Olympics - Women's 400 metres

-Heats:All times shown are in seconds.Q denotes automatic qualification.q denotes fastest losers.DNS denotes did not start.DNF denotes did not finish.NR denotes national record.PB denotes personal best....

 at the 2004 Summer Olympics

2004 Summer Olympics

The 2004 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad, was a premier international multi-sport event held in Athens, Greece from August 13 to August 29, 2004 with the motto Welcome Home. 10,625 athletes competed, some 600 more than expected, accompanied by 5,501 team...

 in Athens, Greece.

College

She attended the University of South Carolina, graduating with a bachelor's degree from the Moore School of Business

Moore School of Business

The Darla Moore School of Business is the business school of University of South Carolina in Columbia, South Carolina, United States. Founded in 1919, the Moore School has a special focus on international business. It currently enrolls over 4,800 students in degree-seeking programs...

 in 1999.

Professional

Williams-Darling had a breakout year in 2004. She started with a 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...

 at the 2004 IAAF World Indoor Championships

2004 IAAF World Indoor Championships

The 10th IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations were held in the Budapest Arena, Hungary between March 5 and March 7, 2004...

 in Budapest

Budapest

Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...

, Hungary

Hungary

Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

, running a personal best behind Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

's Natalya Nazarova

Natalya Nazarova

Natalya Viktorovna Nazarova is a sprint athlete.She was born in Moscow.Following a personal best time of 49.65 seconds run a fortnight earlier, Natalya had lost form by the start of the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, and only just made the final finishing 8th...

 and Olesya Krasnomovets. Then in July, at the Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

 meeting of the IAAF Golden League

IAAF Golden League

The IAAF Golden League was an annual series of track and field meetings organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations...

, Tonique broke Mexican

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

 world champion

2003 World Championships in Athletics

The 9th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held from 23 August to 31 August 2003 in the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, Seine-Saint-Denis, France.-Track:...

 Ana Guevara

Ana Guevara

Ana Gabriela Guevara Espinoza is a now-retired Mexican track and field athlete, specialized in the 400 meters. Her career began in 1996 carrying out diverse tours, participating in her first international competences...

's 23 race winning streak in the 400 meter race.

At the 2004 Summer Olympics

2004 Summer Olympics

The 2004 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad, was a premier international multi-sport event held in Athens, Greece from August 13 to August 29, 2004 with the motto Welcome Home. 10,625 athletes competed, some 600 more than expected, accompanied by 5,501 team...

 in Athens

Athens

Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...

, Greece

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

 Williams-Darling beat Guevara again. In a head to head final straight, she proved to be more powerful than the Mexican runner who had been hampered with injuries and trained only on a limited basis prior to the Games. Winning the race, she became the Bahamas' first individual Olympic

Olympic Games

The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...

 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...

ist.

After the Olympics she secured the win in the overall Golden League-jackpot, cashing in US $500,000 after splitting the US $1M pot with Christian Olsson

Christian Olsson

Christian Olsson is a Swedish athlete competing in high jump and triple jump. He has won an Olympic gold medal, three gold and one silver medal in the World Championships and two gold medals in the European Championships...

.

She also won the gold medal in the 400 meters at 2005 World Championships in Athletics

2005 World Championships in Athletics

The 10th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations , were held in the Olympic Stadium, Helsinki, Finland , the site of the first IAAF World Championships in 1983. One theme of the 2005 championships was paralympic sports, some of...

, in a head-to-head race with American 400-meter specialist Sanya Richards

Sanya Richards

Sanya Richards-Ross is a track and field athlete who competes internationally for the United States. She won an Olympic gold medal in the 4×400 meters relay at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China, an individual bronze medal at the 2008 Olympics for the 400 m, and a gold medal in the 2009...

. At the 2006 Commonwealth Games

2006 Commonwealth Games

The 2006 Commonwealth Games were held in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia between 15 March and 26 March 2006. It was the largest sporting event to be staged in Melbourne, eclipsing the 1956 Summer Olympics in terms of the number of teams competing, athletes competing, and events being held.The site...

, despite being the favourite, she was beaten unexpectedly both in her semi-final and the final by Christine Ohuruogu

Christine Ohuruogu

Christine Ijeoma Ohuruogu MBE is an English athlete, who specialises in the 400 metres; the event for which she is the current Olympic and former World and Commonwealth Champion...

 of England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, claiming silver instead.

Williams-Darling took the 2007 season off to nurse a hamstring injury and did not compete during the 2008 season.

Other

She is married to fellow Bahamian Track and Field athlete Dennis Darling

Dennis Darling

Dennis Darling is a Bahamian athlete who specializes in the 400 metres. He is currently track and field Assistant Coach at Texas Christian University....

 and is the sister-in-law of NFL wide receiver Devard Darling

Devard Darling

Devard Loran Darling is a Bahamian-American wide receiver of American football who is currently a member of the Houston Texans. He was drafted by the Baltimore Ravens in the third round of the 2004 NFL Draft. He played college football at Florida State University and Washington State...

 and the late Devaughn Darling.

For her achievements to date, the Bahamas Government has honoured Tonique by naming a major highway the "Tonique Williams-Darling Highway."

External links

• Tonique Williams Pictures
• Caribbean Net News - Surprise loss at the Commonwealth Games