Beijing Olympic Games

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By PAT GRAHAM, AP Sports Writer

BEIJING (AP)—By the blink of an eye, Dawn Harper made the U.S. Olympic team. By the scrape of a hurdle, she won a gold medal.

Harper captured the Olympic 100-meter hurdles crown Tuesday night, finishing strong while the favorite, fellow American Lolo Jones, clipped the ninth of 10 hurdles.

“That’s how close in track and field your dream can either slip away or (be) given to you,” Harper said.

Will this go down as the race Harper won, or the race Jones lost?

A great debate to have if you’re Harper, who will leave Beijing carrying a gold medal.

Jones, ranked as one the top hurdlers this season, will leave empty handed. After dropping from first to seventh, she dropped to the track in despair.

“It was very difficult to get back up,” Jones said.

Even though Harper thought she had won, she was alarmed by Sally McLellan’s wild celebration, thinking for a moment maybe the Australian had sneaked in for the gold. Harper anxiously waited for the results to become official.

It was a familiar, agonizing wait.

Last month at the U.S. Olympic trials, she crossed the line at what seemed like the exact same time as Nichole Denby. Only one could take the third, and final, spot on the U.S. team.

After a delay, the scoreboard flashed her name. She had beaten Denby by 0.007 second—12.612 to 12.619.

“I didn’t know if I made it,” Harper said. “I couldn’t quite celebrate because I didn’t see it. When I did, the tears came.”

The same surreal sensation hit her again Tuesday. Even as she ran a victory lap around the track, Harper couldn’t quite get the feeling to sink in.

“I kept saying, ‘What? What?’ I was hoping no one could read my lips,” Harper said. “I couldn’t believe I was holding the flag and getting a medal. It was amazing.”

As she made her way from one interview to the next, her coach, Bob Kersee, stood nearby beaming with delight. He said he’s known Harper since junior high and that his wife, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, helped guide her to UCLA, where she placed third in 2005 at the NCAA outdoor championships.

For Kersee, it’s another Olympic medalist added to his storied list. He’s also coached the likes of Florence Griffith Joyner, Gail Devers and his wife.

“This is a kid that nobody knew,” he said, “and now she’s an Olympic gold medalist.”