Carmelita Jeter

Carmelita Jeter
Personal information
Nationality American
Born (1979-11-24) November 24, 1979
Los Angeles, California, United States
Height 5 ft 4 in (1.63 m)
Weight 117 lb (53 kg)
Sport
Country United States United States
Sport Running
Event(s) 100 meters, 200 meters

Carmelita Jeter (born November 24, 1979) is an American sprinter, who specializes in the 100 meters. She was the 2011 IAAF World Champion in the 100 m and a three-time Olympic medallist.

She won the 100 m bronze at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics and a gold at the World Athletics Final. She won a second World Championship bronze. Her victory in the Shanghai Golden Grand Prix in 10.64 seconds made her the second fastest woman ever in the 100 m, behind Florence Griffith-Joyner's long standing world record. Currently she holds three of the top ten times ever run.[1]

Early life

Jeter attended Bishop Montgomery High School.[2] Initially, basketball was the preferred sport in her family, and her younger brother, Eugene, later joined the Sacramento Kings. Her basketball coach suggested that she try out track, and an 11.7 second run confirmed her natural talent for sprinting.[3] Jeter graduated from California State University, Dominguez Hills which is located in Carson, California, with her bachelor's degree in physical education. Jeter set the record for most NCAA medals by a California State University, Dominguez Hills track athlete and became the University's first U.S. Olympic Trials qualifier. A recurring hamstring problem kept her out of competition for much of 2003–05, and it was not until 2007 that she made her first impact in senior track and field athletics, having undergone treatment with deep tissue massage.[4]

International success

In 2007, Jeter won a silver medal in the 60 meters at the USA Indoor Track and Field Championships with a personal best of 7.17 seconds,[5] and she remained in good form, improving her 100 m best to 11.04 seconds to take fourth place in the 100 m at the Adidas Track Classic.[3] Building upon this, she qualified for her first major competition by finishing third at the national championships behind Torri Edwards and Lauryn Williams.[6] She went on to win the bronze medal at the World Championships in a personal best time of 11.02 seconds, as well as taking the 100 m gold at the 2007 World Athletics Final.

The following year, she competed at the 100 and 200 m U.S. Olympic trials. Although she set a 100 m best of 10.97 seconds in the quarter-finals,[7] she did not progress beyond the semifinals, finishing just two hundredths out of the qualifying positions.[8] A sixth-place finish in the 200 m meant she had not made the 2008 Summer Olympics team, despite being one of the favourites for selection.[9] She qualified for the 100 and 200 m races at the 2008 World Athletics Final, but only managed fourth and fifth place, respectively. She changed coach in November, deciding to work with John Smith, who had previously coached athletes such as Maurice Greene. Smith began completely remodelling Jeter's running style.[3]

In her 2009 season, she showed strong performances going into the 2009 World Championships in Athletics. She ran 7.11 seconds in the 60 m in the indoor season, the fastest by any athlete that year and a personal best.[10] She remained in-form in her outdoor season, recording a fast 10.96 seconds at the Mt. SAC Relays,[11] winning gold at the 2009 Nike Prefontaine Classic, and taking her first national title at the 2009 U.S. Outdoor Championships.[12] At the 2009 London Grand Prix, she placed first in the 100 m, clocking a personal best of 10.92; it was the third fastest time at that point of the season, only slower than Jamaica's Shelly-Ann Fraser and Kerron Stewart. A week prior to the start of the World Championships, Jeter was part of a United States 4 × 100 m relay team that ran the fastest women's sprint relay in twelve years. Lauryn Williams, Allyson Felix, Muna Lee and Jeter finished with a time of 41.58 seconds, bringing them to eighth on the all-time list.[13]

Jeter running in the World Championships in Berlin

At the 2009 World Athletics Championships, in Berlin, Jeter was one of the favourites for the gold medal as a 10.83 seconds personal best in the semis made her the fastest qualifier for the final. She ended up with her second World Championship bronze medal in the 100 m, however, finishing a tenth of a second behind Fraser and Stewart. The races after the championships proved more successful: she beat strong opposition in the IAAF Golden League meets in Zurich and Brussels with two sub-10.90 runs.[14][15]

Jeter was also selected to run as part of the US relay team as the anchor runner. However, in their heat, during the change over between Alexandria Anderson and Muna Lee, Lee horrifically injured her leg which caused elimination from the relay event. Jamaica eventually claimed the gold medals.

She entered the 2009 IAAF World Athletics Final having won her last three races by a significant margin. Even taking this into account, Jeter surprised with one of the highlights of the final edition of the IAAF World Athletics Final.[3][16] She won the 100 m race in Thessaloniki, Greece with a time of 10.67, to become the third fastest woman in history and set a championship record.[17][18] This was the fastest run in twelve years; a time which had only been bettered by Marion Jones and Florence Griffith-Joyner,[19] and 0.16 seconds faster than Jeter had ever run before.[20] She ran even faster a week later at the Shanghai Golden Grand Prix, winning in 10.64 seconds (the fourth fastest time ever) to become the second fastest woman outright.[21]

Her fast times were a double-edged sword in that they brought as much suspicion as they did appreciation. At age 30, Jeter had improved her personal record by over a third of a second within a single season and she ranked between Jones and Griffith-Joyner in the all-time lists. Given the history of the women's sprints and speculation about performance-enhancing drug use, Jeter said "I can't be upset about those questions [but] It's unfortunate that I work this hard and I don't get the credit I should get".[22] She improved her 60 m best to 7.02 seconds to win at the USA Indoor Track and Field Championships. This was still slower than LaVerne Jones-Ferrette, and Jeter resolved to improve further for the 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships.[23]

Personal bests

Event Time (seconds) Venue Date
55 meters 6.84 Fresno, California, United States January 21, 2008
60 meters 7.02 Albuquerque, United States February 28, 2010
100 meters 10.64 Shanghai, China September 20, 2009
200 meters 22.11 Eugene, United States June 30, 2012

The 2011 IAAF World Champion for Women's 100M with a time of 10.90.

References

  1. http://www.iaaf.org/statistics/toplists/inout=o/age=n/season=0/sex=W/all=y/legal=A/disc=100/detail.html
  2. "Former BMHS, CSDH standout Jeter edges Lee for U.S. women's 100 title". Daily Breeze. MNG. June 27, 2009. Retrieved 2009-09-15.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Arcoleo, Laura (2009-09-13). Jeter's rise continues, all the way to 10.67! – IAAF / VTB Bank World Athletics Final. IAAF. Retrieved on 2009-09-17.
  4. Carmelita Jeter Biography. USATF. Retrieved on 2009-07-25.
  5. 2007 US Indoor Championships Women 60 Meter Dash. USATF. Retrieved on 2009-09-17.
  6. 2007 US Championships Women 100 Meter Dash. USATF. Retrieved on 2009-09-17.
  7. Women 100 Meter Dash quarterfinals results. USATF. Retrieved on 2009-07-25.
  8. Women 100 Meter Dash semifinals results. USATF. Retrieved on 2009-07-25.
  9. Women 200 Meter Dash final results. USATF. Retrieved on 2009-07-25.
  10. 60 Metres 2009. IAAF (2009-03-22). Retrieved on 2009-07-25.
  11. Lee, Kirby (2009-04-19). World leads for Jeter and Johnson in Mt. SAC Relays – Day 3. IAAF. Retrieved on 2009-07-25.
  12. Morse, Parker (2009-06-27). Jeter and Rodgers take 100m titles in Eugene – US Champs, Day 2. IAAF. Retrieved on 2009-06-30.
  13. Wenig, Jörg (2009-08-08). US quartet blasts 41.58 in the 4x100 as Wlodarczyk improves to 77.20m in Cottbus Archived August 10, 2009, at the Wayback Machine.. IAAF. Retrieved on 2009-08-09.
  14. 2009 Weltklasse Zurich 100 metres W. IAAF. Retrieved on 2009-09-17.
  15. 2009 Memorial Van Damme 100 metres W. IAAF. Retrieved on 2009-09-17.
  16. Stunning Jeter run upstages Bolt. BBC Sport (2009-09-13). Retrieved on 2009-09-17.
  17. Jeter – 10.67 – third fastest of all-time! IAAF / VTB Bank World Athletics Final. IAAF. Retrieved on 2009-07-17.
  18. Demetris Nellas (September 13, 2009). "Jeter becomes 3rd fastest woman ever in 100". USA TODAY. Retrieved September 14, 2009.
  19. 100 Metres All Time. IAAF (2009-09-15). Retrieved on 2009-09-17.
  20. 100 Metres 2009. IAAF (2009-09-16). Retrieved on 2009-09-17
  21. Gay clocks stunning 100m in China. BBC Sport (2009-09-20). Retrieved on 2009-09-21.
  22. Kessel, Anna (2010-02-20). Carmelita Jeter bears the burden of being the fastest woman alive. The Guardian. Retrieved on 2010-02-20.
  23. Lee, Kirby (2010-03-01). World Leads by Dunn, Trammell and Williams, Jeter jets 7.02 – USA Indoor Champs Day 2. IAAF. Retrieved on 2010-03-01.
  24. "Jeter, Carmelita biography". IAAF. Retrieved 2009-07-25.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Carmelita Jeter.
Awards
Preceded by
Allyson Felix
Women's Jesse Owens Award
2011
Succeeded by
Incumbent
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