RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) Tianna Bartoletta kicked off her country’s whirlwind run of medals on the night.
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Rollins won the race in 12.48 seconds, leading a U.S. sweep – the first American sweep in the event’s history.
Rollins – who turns 25 on Thursday -had command of the race and won in handsome form and fashion. Nia Ali finished with the silver and and Kristi Castlin finished third for the bronze.
“We were ready to go”, Castlin said. Rollins became the first Clemson female to win a gold medal in an individual event in the Olympics in any sport.
Thompson ended in a season’s-best 21.78 seconds for an edge of.10 over Schippers.
Day 12 wasn’t entirely about medals and good feelings for the USA track and field team, though.
Such is the Americans’ depth in the event that they did the trifecta in Rio without world record holder Kendra Harrison, who failed to earn a berth on the team.
That includes the 2012 Olympics, when Dawn Harper won silver and Kellie Wells won bronze behind gold-medalist Sally Pearson of Australia.
The United States has a long history of great women sprinters, but Brianna Rollins, Nia Ali and Kristi Castlin combined for a feat no other trio has ever accomplished.
For the pair of Atlantic Coast Conference alumnae, making the US team may have been the hardest part of their mission.
Rollins led the USA sweep of the 100-meter hurdles on Wednesday at the Rio Games. Prior to Wednesday no nation had even gone one-two in the 100 hurdles.
De Grasse, the bronze medalist in Sunday’s 100 meters, said the sprint was part of a strategy. “I don’t know what he was trying to do”.
“The whole Olympics had gone by”, Ali said. So many fantastic performances throughout all different sports – that kind of amped up our energy.
“Losing my father at the age of 12 to gun violence, I’ve overcome so much”.
Sitting in the stands was Jackson, attending her first Olympics, and surely beaming with pride. The three-member Chinese women’s team lost only a single game during the three sets.
Castlin dedicated her medal to the victims of gun violence.
In 2009, Ali’s father, Aleem, a supervisor in the Philadelphia Department of Human Services, walked up to a auto and shot his ex-girlfriend to death, then killed himself. “It feels good to come out and do a great job”, she said.
“We were not fortunate enough to have all the electronics and toys”, she said. She resumed training six weeks after delivering Titus Maximus Tinsley. They’re my backbone and keep me going.
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“I have my son here with me and he plays a major role”.
