Sanya Richards began the season with hopes for at least two and possibly three golds at the 11th IAAF World Championships in Track & Field in Osaka, Japan, but an unfortunate run-in with Behcet’s Disease earlier this year knocked those goals down a peg. Nonetheless, she can at least say she left with one gold, as the anchor on Sunday’s 4×400 meter relay.
Still, even in victory, the difficulties the illness caused the former Texas Longhorn were obvious: Her 49.06-second clocking gave up ground to Jamaica’s Novlene Williams (48.9), Great Britain’s Nicola Sanders (48.7), and Russia’s Natalya Antyukh (48.7). Fortunately, the U.S. already had a 1.3-second lead when Richards took the baton, and she had enough to finish first, stopping the timer at 3:18.55 &ndash the 10th-fastest in history.
If the former NCAA champion can rest and rebound, she still has another goal to shoot for in 2007: To win part of the IAAF Golden League $1 million jackpot, a share of which goes to any athlete that can win his or her discipline in all six GL meetings. Thus far, only she (400 meters), fellow American Michelle Perry (100 meter hurdles), and Russian Yelena Isinbayeva (pole vault) are still in contention with meetings in Zurich, Brussels, and Berlin remaining.
The other local connection of note on Sunday, the last day of the championships, was former Texas high school state champion Amy Acuff, who placed 12th in the high jump. This was the seventh consecutive world championships for Acuff, and the sixth time she has made the finals. Acuff, who also placed fourth in the 2004 Olympics, lived in Austin until just last year and currently trains in California.
This article appears in August 31 • 2007.