Track and field: To Dawn Harper, it's a lock

BEIJING -- You'd think that being an Olympic gold medalist would open some doors for Dawn Harper, who won the 100-meter hurdles Tuesday after U.S. teammate Lolo Jones bumped the next-to-last hurdle and stumbled toward the finish.

Not all doors, apparently. When she returned to the athletes' village and tried to enter her room, the knob spun in her hand and the door wouldn't budge.

After contacting U.S. team coach Jeanette Bolden, she ended up sleeping in the bed of Tiffany Ross-Williams, who was spending the night at a hotel. Her new roommate was Damu Cherry -- one of the women Harper had beaten to win the gold medal.

"Yeah, that's really interesting," said Harper, a 2006 UCLA graduate who trains in Los Angeles with Bobby Kersee.

Actually, the arrangement worked out fine. "I kept saying, 'I'm sorry,' " Harper said. "It was weird. She was saying, 'No, Dawn, you deserved it.'

"I kept feeling like I was going to have to wake up and run again. Lord, please, no."

The notion that she will, from now on, be introduced as an Olympic gold medalist stunned her into speechlessness, and she cried at a news conference Wednesday when asked to put her thoughts into words.

"It's the first time it's hitting me," said Harper, who went to high school in East St. Louis, Ill., and idolized six-time Olympic medalist Jackie Joyner-Kersee.

"It's amazing. It's jaw-dropping. You work so hard and for it to actually come true and realize that it happened, that you raced the best in the world and for you to come out on top, it's a blessing. It's a blessing."

She's also blessed with a husband who was willing to sacrifice to support her training after she underwent knee surgery in February. She met Craig Everhart while they competed for UCLA, and both became captains of their respective track teams. They were married last October.

"Actually I told her our freshman year that we were going to get married, and she didn't like me for at least two years," said Everhart, who still runs but took on the extra job of mentoring UCLA students to help support his wife's training.

"Eventually I broke her down. Actually, I grew and became a lot more mature, and she started seeing me and seeing how hard we were working, and everything just worked out for the better."

Harper said she had spoken with Joyner-Kersee and plans to return to East St. Louis for a celebration at the youth center named in Joyner-Kersee's honor. Before that, she planned to leave Beijing Thursday to compete in meets on the European circuit.

"There's so much more that Bobby Kersee has to teach me," she said. "By no means have I learned even half of what he has to show me. I feel the world is out there for me to go and get. I still feel like I have so much more to show the world."

-- Helene Elliott

Photo: Dawn Harper celebrates winning the women's 100-meter hurdles Tuesday night. Credit: Valery Hache / AFP / Getty Images

Comments

[Faith]

I watched this race and fell head over heels for Dawn. What a sweet, sweet spirit.

[Michael]

When I saw the look on her face before the event, I said out loud, "She's going to win this!"

Thank you for making me look smart, and the victory could not have gone to a sweeter and more deserving soul.

[Michael]

When I saw the look on her face before the event, I said out loud, "She's going to win this!"

Thank you for making me look smart, and the victory could not have gone to a sweeter and more deserving soul.

[Charlene Harper Dickerson]

Congrats to you Dawn, I am your cousin from East. St. Louis too. My dad is Charles. I am his oldest daughter. I am so proud of you. Your focus was on who and what matter the most and you did it. The world is your go and get it. WHAT GOD HAS FOR YOU IT IS FOR YOU BELIEVE IT. NO WEAPONS FORMED AGAINST YOU SHALL PROSPER!!!!!

[Dawn Harper]

Reading this article and then seeing the comments makes me so thankful and I just want to say that it was nothing but GOD. Thanks for the support everyone.

[donald garnett]

I love you Dawn you proved that hard work and staying on your goal works out.I saw it on your face that you were going to win there hyped up LOLO JONES but you are the winner. You are beauitful BLACK WOMEN KEEP UP THE SPIRT.

[donald garnett]

Outstanding job Dawn you are # 1 BLACK ANERICAN LOVES YOU.

[carolline irwin]

Dawn, it was so exciting to watch all of your perfect races. there was nothing better that you could have done. you had your eye on the prize all 100m. no matter how the race is analyzed you got the gold.

love ya

[LaTreice Johnson]

Congrats Dawn. I was a freshman during your senior year at East Side. You are such an inspiration to many in our hometown and across the world. God bless you, you deserve this.

[Vee]

Dawn, I would like to invite you to speak at our school during Black History month in 2009. I believe that a woman of your endurance would inspire an entire generation.