DeKalb resident returns to the Olympics
by Brian Egeston
be@brianwrites.com
 Southwest DeKalb graduate and Ellenwood resident Terrence Trammell will make his third attempt going for the gold medal that has eluded him for the past eight years. The two-time silver medalist in the 110-meter hurdles has missed the gold medal by .43 seconds. Trammell first earned the silver medal in the 2000 Sydney Olympic games and then repeated the feat in 2004 at Athens.
Trammell comes off a good showing at the Olympic trials held at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore., last weekend. In the preliminaries, the former Panther finished second with a time of 13.08 behind Antwon Hicks, who ran a 13.36. After the preliminaries, Trammell was ranked seventh overall. Only the top three will go on to Beijing to represent the United States.
The quarterfinals found Trammell still in stride finishing second, this time with a 13.38. David Oliver, who won every race he entered at the trials, finished first with a 13.07. The race bumped Trammell up one spot to sixth place, still needing to advance past three men to make the team.
In the semi-finals, Trammell crossed first beating both Anwar Moore and Hicks, improving his time with a 13.08. Hicks finished second with a 13.09. The win moved Trammell up to number two on the roster, needing only to finish second or third in the finals to make the team.
Trammell ran out of the sixth block and got off to a clean start and was even with David Payne through three jumps. At the fourth hurdle, Trammel was pulling away with Oliver and Moore. At the ninth hurdle, the team was all but decided. Oliver, Moore and Trammell, could start booking their travel plans. At the 10th and final hurdle, Moore hit the top and fell to the track. Trammell cleared the last hurdle, came down awkwardly but kept his balance, stretched forward and crossed in second place. “The last 20 meters I got a little impatient in my hurdle form, but I won’t let that happen again,” said Trammell. Payne slipped into third while Moore laid on his back in defeated agony.
“I’m happy. I came out healthy and now I can get ready for Beijing,” said Trammell after the race. “Anything can happen. My goal was to finish and get in the top three. I just knew I had to run through the line. It’s a little awkward [not having Allen Johnson on the team]. This is the first time Allen Johnson hasn’t been on the team with me. He had a really good run. He has given me so much valuable experience being able to train with him for six years. With him I had a cheat sheet of how to win major competitions, and I could pick his brain about a lot of things. Before Beijing I’m going to go to two meets in Paris and Stockholm. That will give me a good race rhythm, because they are almost back-to-back. Whoever is the most ready at that time is going to win gold.”
The U.S. team will go up against former world record holder and China’s most celebrated Olympic star Liu Xiang, who will be running in front of a home crowd in Beijing. Xiang set the record in 2006 at 12.88. In June, Dayron Robles of Cuba broke that record with 12.87. Trammell finished second to Robles in that race.
“[Xiang] has shown himself to be a consistent athlete when the title is on the line,” said Trammell in an April interview. “How I see him and rank him is as a very good competitor. I think he’ll be under an extreme amount of pressure. He’s pretty much holding a nation on his shoulders. But outside of that I say I’m going to win.”
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