Lashinda Demus

Demus in 2009
Personal information
Nationality	American
Born	(1983-03-10) March 10, 1983 (age 41)
Height	5 ft 7 in (170 cm)
Weight	130 lb (59 kg)
Sport
Country	United States
Sport	Athletics
Event	400 m hurdles
Retired	2016
Achievements and titles
Olympic finals	2004 Athens 400 m hurdles, 7th (sf) 2012 London 400 m hurdles,  Gold
World finals	2005 Helsinki 400 m hurdles,  Silver 2009 Berlin 400 m hurdles,  Silver 4x400 m relay,  Gold 2011 Daegu 400 m hurdles,  Gold 2013 Moscow 400 m hurdles,  Bronze
Personal bests	400 m hurdles: 52.47 ( Daegu 2011) 400 m: 51.09 ( Oslo 2010) 200 m: 23.35 ( Coral Gables 2008) 100 m hurdles: 12.96 ( Walnut 2011) 100 m: 11.61 ( Azusa 2013) Indoors 400 m: 51.63 i ( Fayetteville 2004)
Medal record Women's athletics Representing the   United States Olympic Games 2012 London 400 m hurdles World Championships 2009 Berlin 4x400 m relay 2011 Daegu 400 m hurdles 2005 Helsinki 400 m hurdles 2009 Berlin 400 m hurdles 2013 Moscow 400 m hurdles World U20 Championships 2002 Kingston 400 m hurdles 2002 Kingston 4x400 m relay Pan American U20 Athletics Championships 1999 Tampa 400 m hurdles

Lashinda Demus (born March 10, 1983, in Inglewood, California) is a retired American hurdler who specialized in the 400 meter hurdles, an event in which she was the 2011 world champion and 2012 Olympic gold medalist, becoming the first woman from the United States to win the Olympic 400 m hurdles title.

Demus' personal best time over 400 m hurdles is 52.47 seconds, set in Daegu, South Korea on September 1, 2011, making her as of December 2022 the seventh fastest woman in history in the event. At the time it was the American record. ^[1] She is a five-time national champion (400 m hurdles), and a four-time NCAA champion (400 m hurdles, 400 m indoors and 4 × 400 m relay out and indoors).

Career

1998–2001: High school years

She is an alumna of the Long Beach Wilson High School where she ran and until 2017 held the national high school record for the 300 m hurdles. ^[2] She ran on the 4x400 m relay team that set the national record in 1998, ran the second fastest time in history in 1999, and then broke its own national record in 2001 ^[3] (since surpassed by cross town rival Long Beach Polytechnic High School in 2004). ^[2] She also competed in the 100 meter hurdles, winning the CIF California State Meet in 2001, on the 4x100 m relay team, champions in 2001, ^[4] as well as many of the sprint medley teams. In 1999 and again in 2001, she was named the national Girl's "High School Athlete of the Year" by Track and Field News. She is the only person to be so honored twice, non-consecutively. ^[5]

2001–2005: Collegiate years

After High School, Lashinda attended the University of South Carolina to work under Curtis Frye. Her top times in college were as follows: 55 m H: 7.80; 60 m H: 8.32; 100 m H: 13.35; 400 m H: 54.70; 400 m: 51.38; 800 m: 2:13.77. ^[6] While at South Carolina, Demus won the World Junior Championship in 2002, the NCAA Indoor Championship at 400 meters in 2004, the first of three National Championships ^[7] and a silver medal in the 2005 World Championships. Demus also was a member of the school's first NCAA team national championship when the women's track and field team won the 2002 NCAA Outdoor National Championship.

2004 Summer Olympics

Demus qualified for the American team at the 2004 Athens Olympics. In the semi-final, she ran exactly the same time as her teammate Sheena Johnson and .7 seconds faster than Brenda Taylor who qualified in the first semi, but Demus had the misfortune to run in the much faster second semi. Her fifth place did not advance her to the final.

2008–2011: World champion at 28 years old

Leaving behind the memory of failure to qualify for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, she won the 2009 US Championships in the 400 m hurdles, with a world-leading 53.78 seconds, gaining herself a place at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics. ^[8] She improved upon this with a time of 52.63 seconds at the Herculis meeting in July. This was a meeting record and was then the fourth fastest time ever for the event. ^[9] With that time she was the favorite to win the World Championships but faltered over the last two hurdles as she was passed by Olympic gold medalist Melaine Walker of Jamaica who was en route to the #2 time in history, leaving Demus to take home a second silver medal. However, Demus got her revenge at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics in Daegu, South Korea, when she won the gold medal in 52.47 seconds, a new American Record and the third fastest time in history. She beat reigning Olympic Champion and defending World Champion Melaine Walker, who finished second. Heavy favorite Kaliese Spencer who had set the fastest time in 2011, could only finish fourth behind Demus, Walker and 2010 European Champion and 2004 Olympic 400 m bronze medalist Natalya Antyukh. ^[10]

2012 Summer Olympics

At the 2012 Summer Olympics held in London, Demus originally won the silver medal for the women's 400 m hurdles behind Russia's Natalya Antyukh. ^[11]

In 2019, following a re-test of doping samples, Antyukh was disqualified with all her results 2013 onward deleted but her 2012 Olympic results were initially not affected. ^{[12] [13] [14]} However, following further re-tests in October 2022, Antyukh's results from July 15, 2012, onward were retroactively voided. On 20 December, it was announced that she had been stripped of her 400 m hurdles gold and Demus was upgraded to gold medal in her place, becoming the first woman from the United States to win the Olympic 400 m hurdles title. ^{[15] [16]}

Achievements

Representing the   United States

Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Event	Time
1999	Pan American U20 Athletics Championships	Tampa, Florida	1st	400 m hurdles	57.04
2001	World University Championships Universiade	Beijing, China	16th	400 m hurdles	60.78
2002	World Junior Championships	Kingston, Jamaica	1st	400 m hurdles	54.70
			1st	4 × 400 m relay	3:29.95
2004	Olympic Games	Athens, Greece	7th (sf)	400 m hurdles	54.32
2005	World Championships	Helsinki, Finland	2nd	400 m hurdles	53.27
	World Athletics Final	Monte Carlo, Monaco	1st	400 m hurdles	53.37
2006	World Athletics Final	Stuttgart, Germany	1st	400 m hurdles	53.42
	World Cup	Athens, Greece	2nd	400 m hurdles	54.06
2009	World Championships	Berlin, Germany	2nd	400 m hurdles	52.96
			1st	4 × 400 m relay	3:17.83
2011	World Championships	Daegu, Korea	1st	400 m hurdles	52.47
2012	Olympic Games	London, United Kingdom	1st	400 m hurdles	52.77
2013	World Championships	Moscow, Russia	3rd	400 m hurdles	54.27

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lashinda Demus.

• Lashinda Demus at World Athletics
• Lashinda Demus at Diamond League
• Lashinda Demus at legacy.USATF.org
• Lashinda Demus at Olympics.com
• Lashinda Demus at Olympedia
• Lashinda Demus at the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee (archived)

Sporting positions
Preceded by Yuliya Pechonkina	Women's 400m Hurdles Best Year Performance 2006	Succeeded by Tiffany Williams