Sally Pearson

Sally Pearson, OAM (née McLellan; born 19 September 1986) is an Australian athlete. She is the 2011 World champion and 2012 Olympic champion in the 100 metres hurdles. She also won a silver medal in the 100 m hurdles at the 2008 Summer Olympics and the 2013 World Championships.

Sally Pearson was born in Wagga and moved to the Birdsville, Queensland when she was eight years old. It was there, while she was still in primary school, that her athletic talents were noticed by Sharon Hannan, who coached her until 2013. Pearson rose to prominence in 2001, when at the age of only 14, she won the Australian Youth 100 m and 90 m hurdles titles. After injury setbacks during 2002 she made her international debut at the 2003 World Youth Championships in Sherbrooke, Canada and won gold in the 100 m hurdles. The following month, still only 16 years old, she represented Australia at open level at the 2003 World Championships in Paris, France as part of the 4 × 100 m relay team. In 2004 she won a bronze in the 100 m at the World Junior Championships, and just missed out on a medal in the 100 m hurdles.

At the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Pearson tripped over a hurdle and fell to the ground during the 100 m hurdles final, costing her the chance of a medal. In 2007 she continued to pursue both the 100 m and the 100 m hurdles, making the semi-final of each event at the World Championships in Osaka, Japan. However, in the lead up to the 2008 Olympic Games, she shifted her focus solely to the 100 m hurdles. This decision paid off, with Pearson claiming the silver medal in a dramatic final, where the favourite Lolo Jones stumbled and a photo finish was required to decide the minor medals. After the announcement of the official results a jubilant Pearson celebrated enthusiastically with bronze medal winner Priscilla Lopes-Schliep, and gave an emotional trackside interview.

Pearson was in good form during the 2009 European season, winning five out of seven races and breaking the Australian and Oceanian record in the 100 m hurdles at the Herculis meeting in July, with a time of 12.50 seconds; 0.03 faster than the area record she had set on the same track a year earlier. However she was hampered by back spasms in the lead up to the World Championships in Berlin, and was only able to finish fifth in the 100 m hurdles final.

2010 Commonwealth Games

At the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India, Pearson competed in the 100 m sprint in addition to the 100 m hurdles. In the final of the 100 m she recorded a false start, along with English runner Laura Turner, but was allowed to line up for the restart, crossing the finish line first in a time of 11.28s. However a protest was lodged after the race, which resulted in a distraught Pearson being disqualified. Three nights later she went on to win gold in the 100 m hurdles final in 12.67 seconds. Pearson was also controversially included in the Australian team for the final of the women's 4 × 400 m relay, an event she had not trained for, and collapsed after running the anchor leg, the Australian team having finished in fifth place. Even though she thought she had let the team down, her team mates comforted her.

At the beginning of the next season, she won the 100 m, 200 m and 100 m hurdles to become the first Australian woman to win three national titles at the same event since Pam Kilborn had done in 1968.

2011 World championships

Pearson at the 2011 World Championships

At the 2011 World Championships in Daegu, South Korea, Pearson ran a 100m hurdles time of 12.28s (+1.1), the fourth fastest time in history, following the semi-finals where she produced the equal fifth fastest time in history of 12.36s (+0.3) to beat her own Oceanian area record and Australian national record.

2012 Olympics

Coming into the 2012 London Olympics, for the 100m hurdles Pearson had won 32 races from 34 starts. She led the competition after Round 1 heats with 12.57 and lead coming into the final with a semi-final time of 12.39. Pearson won gold with a new Olympic record time of 12.35s (Wind (m/s): -0.2) beating out Americans Dawn Harper, 12.37, and Kellie Wells, 12.48, who both recorded personal bests.

2015

At the Golden Gala, Pearson fell over a hurdle badly and suffered a "bone explosion" of her left forearm. The traumatic injury ruined the remainder of her 2015 season.

2016

Sally Pearson was set to be a strong contender to defend her gold medal title she won at the London 2012 Olympics. However, during a hard training session Pearson slightly tore her hamstring forcing her out of the Rio 2016 games.

In November 2011 the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) awarded Pearson as the 2011 Female Athlete of the Year. She is the first Australian to receive this award. Pearson also received prizemoney of A$ 98,800 ($US100,000).

In October 2014, Pearson was named 2014's most inspirational Australian athlete.

Pearson was raised by her single mother Anne, who worked two jobs to make enough money to support her daughter's athletic career. In late 2008 she became engaged to Kieran Pearson, the pair having been together since their senior year at Helensvale State High School on Queensland's Gold Coast. In April 2010 they married on the Gold Coast, and had their honeymoon in Los Angeles and Hawaii.

Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Event	Notes
Representing  Australia
2003	World Youth Championships	Sherbrooke, Canada	5th	200 m	24.01
			1st	100 m hurdles (76.2 cm)	13.42
	World Championships	Paris, France	14th (heats)	4 × 100 m relay	44.11
2004	World Junior Championships	Grosseto, Italy	3rd	100m	11.40 (wind: +1.5 m/s)
			4th	100m hurdles	13.41 (wind: -1.0 m/s)
			5th	4 × 100 m relay	45.10
2006	Commonwealth Games	Melbourne, Australia	7th	100 m	11.50
			3rd	4 × 100 m relay	44.25
	World Cup	Athens, Greece	8th	100 m	11.44
			4th	100 m hurdles	12.95
2007	World Championships	Osaka, Japan	15th (semis)	100 m	11.32
			10th (semis)	100 m hurdles	12.82
			14th (heats)	4 × 100 m relay	43.91
2008	Olympic Games	Beijing, China	2nd	100 m hurdles	12.64
2009	World Championships	Berlin, Germany	5th	100 m hurdles	12.70
2010	Commonwealth Games	New Delhi, India	1st	100 m hurdles	12.67
2011	World Championships	Daegu, South Korea	1st	100 m hurdles	12.28
2012	World Indoor Championships	Istanbul, Turkey	1st	60 m hurdles	7.73
	Olympic Games	London, United Kingdom	1st	100 m hurdles	12.35
2013	World Championships	Moscow, Russia	2nd	100 m hurdles	12.50
2014	World Indoor Championships	Sopot, Poland	2nd	60 m hurdles	7.85
	Commonwealth Games	Glasgow, Scotland	1st	100 m hurdles	12.67

Personal bests

• 100 metres – 11.14 secs 2007
• 200 metres – 22.97 secs (2015)
• 100 metres hurdles – 12.28 secs (2011) (This record is the sixth fastest time in history.)