Melaine Walker

Melaine Walker O.D (born 1 January 1983,[1] Kingston) is a Jamaican 400 metres hurdler. Walker is the former Olympic 400 m hurdles champion.[2] She holds the Olympic record of 52.64, set at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and her time of 52.42 seconds at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin was the second fastest time in history.[2]

Melaine Walker
Personal information
Born (1983-03-01) 1 March 1983
Height1.63 m (5 ft 4 in)
Weight53 kg (117 lb)
Sport
Country Jamaica
SportAthletics
Event(s)400m Hurdles
Medal record
Olympic Games
2008 Beijing400 m hurdles
World Championships
2009 Berlin400 m hurdles
2011 Daegu400 m hurdles
World Junior Championships
2000 Santiago 4×400 m relay
2002 Kingston 400 m hurdles
1998 Annecy 4×400 m relay
2000 Santiago 400 m hurdles
World Youth Championships
1999 Bydgoszcz 200 m
Central American and Caribbean Games
2006 Cartagena 4×400 m relay
2006 Cartagena 400 m hurdles
CAC Junior Championships (U20)
2000 San Juan 400 m hurdles
2000 San Juan 4x400 m relay
CAC Junior Championships (U17)
1998 George Town 200 m
1998 George Town 4x100 m relay
1998 George Town 4x400 m relay
CARIFTA Games
Junior (U20)
2001 Bridgetown 400 m hurdles
2001 Bridgetown 4x100 m relay
2002 Nassau 400 m hurdles
2001 Bridgetown 100 m hurdles
2002 Nassau 200 m
CARIFTA Games
Youth (U17)
1998 Port of Spain 200 m
1999 Fort-de-France 200 m
1999 Fort-de-France 100 m hurdles
1998 Port of Spain 100 m
1998 Port of Spain 100 m hurdles

Biography

Walker is a past student of the St. Jago High School. She won Gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympics in a new Olympic record time of 52.64 seconds. Walker won the Jamaica national championships in 54.70 seconds, narrowly beating newcomer Kaliese Spencer and qualifying for her first World Championships in Athletics.[3]

On 20 August 2009, she set the second fastest time in history of 52.42 seconds to win the women's 400m hurdles final at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin.[4] She leapt on the back of the mascot Berlino the Bear to do a victory lap but Berlino crashed into a cart of hurdles and dropped her.[5]

Achievements
YearCompetitionVenuePositionEventNotes
Representing  Jamaica
1998 World Junior Championships Annecy, France 5th 200 m 23.72 (wind: -1.1 m/s)
3rd 4 × 100 m relay 44.61
1999 World Youth Championships Bydgoszcz, Poland 2nd 200 m 23.72 (wind: -0.1 m/s)
6th 100 m hurdles (76.2 cm) 13.80 (wind: -0.4 m/s)
2000 World Junior Championships Santiago, Chile 3rd 400 m hurdles 56.96
2nd 4 × 400 m relay 3:33.99
2002 World Junior Championships Kingston, Jamaica 5th 100m hurdles 13.66 w (wind: +3.4 m/s)
2nd 400m hurdles 56.03
2004 NACAC U-23 Championships Sherbrooke, Canada 5th 100m hurdles 13.86 (wind: +0.0 m/s)
2006 Central American and Caribbean Games Cartagena, Colombia 3rd 400 m hurdles 55.97
2nd 4 × 400 m relay 3:32.86
2007 World Athletics Final Stuttgart, Germany 3rd 400 m hurdles 54.31
2008 Olympic Games Beijing, China 1st 400 m hurdles 52.64
World Athletics Final Stuttgart, Germany 1st 400 m hurdles 54.06
2009 World Championships Berlin, Germany 1st 400 m hurdles 52.42
IAAF World Athletics Final Thesaloniki, Greece 1st 400 m hurdles 53.36

Personal bests

References
  1. Melaine Walker at Sports Reference
  2. Lewis, Richard (2009-08-20) "For Walker, World record assault next item on the agenda? Archived 21 August 2009 at the Wayback Machine". IAAF. Retrieved 2009-08-21.
  3. Foster, Anthony (2009-06-28). Bolt 9.86 and Fraser 10.88; Walker and Phillips excel over hurdles – JAM Champs , Day 2 Archived 29 June 2009 at the Wayback Machine. IAAF. Retrieved on 2009-06-28.
  4. "Walker storms to 400m hurdle gold". BBC Sport. 20 August 2009. Retrieved 20 August 2009.
  5. Emily Benammar, "World Athletics: Berlino the Bear drops Olympic champion Melanie Walker", The Daily Telegraph, 21 Aug 2009
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