Five-Time Olympic Medalist to Compete at Kansas Relays

April 2, 2010

LAWRENCE, Kan. –

Only two women in the history of the Olympic Games have ever won back-to-back gold medals in the 200-meter dash. This year at the Kansas Relays, fans, coaches and athletes alike will get a chance to witness one of those women in action. Veronica Campbell Brown, known as one of the greatest Caribbean sprinters of all time, will run at the 2010 Kansas Relays in the 200-meter dash and 4×400-meter relay on April 17.

Campbell-Brown is a five-time Olympic medalist, six-time World Championship medalist and currently holds the best 200-meter time of the 21st century (21.74).

In Sydney, Australia in 2000, Campbell-Brown won her first Olympic medal (silver) as a member of Jamaica’s 4×100-meter relay team. Four years later in Athens, she became the most successful Caribbean athlete at a single Olympic Games, winning three separate medals. She captured her first individual gold in the 200-meter dash when she beat U.S. Olympian and former Kansas Relays competitor Allyson Felix. Later, Campbell-Brown teamed up with Aleen Bailey, Tayna Lawrence and Sherone Simpson to win the 4×100-meter relay. The sprinter from Trelawny, Jamaica also took home a bronze medal from the 2000 Games in the 100-meter dash.

In 2008, Campbell-Brown found herself atop the podium once again, as she became only the second woman in history to successfully defend her gold-medal performance in the 200-meter dash. The race in Beijing was truly the best of her life, as she recorded a personal-record of 21.74, which is the fastest time recorded by any female athlete in the event in the last decade.

In addition to her Olympic hardware, Campbell-Brown has won one gold and five silver medals at the World Championships. Her gold medal came in 2007 in the 100-meter dash, which is the same event she had won in 1999 at the World Youth Championships and again in 2000 at the IAAF World Junior Championships. By winning each of those three titles, Campbell-Brown became the first athlete, male or female, to win the full offering of IAAF sprint titles available.

Before entering the professional circuit, Campbell-Brown raced for Barton County Community College, where she won four junior college titles in the 60, 100 and 200 meters. After two years at BCCC, she moved on to the University of Arkansas, where she excelled as a member of the sprints squad and graduated with a bachelors of science in 2006.

Campbell Brown will run in two events on Saturday, April 17 at the 83rd Annual Kansas Relays. Her first event will be the women’s invitational 200-meter dash at approximately 3:35 p.m., followed by the women’s invitational 4×400-meter relay at 5:05 p.m. Admission into the meet will be granted to those wearing a 2010 Kansas Relays button. The buttons are $10 for adults and $5 for students, youth and seniors. Children under five are admitted for free, as are KU students with a valid KU ID. There is also a Kansas Relays family plan which includes two adult and two student/youth buttons for $20.