BEIJING, China - - Damu Cherry competed in the 100-meter hurdles final at the Olympics inside National Stadium and posted a time of 12.65 that placed fourth, just one spot off of the medal podium.

USA's own Dawn Harper came away with the gold after a personal best time of 12.54. Harper was followed by Australia's Sally McLellan and Canada's Priscilla Lopes-Schliep.

Both McLellan and Lopes-Schliep recorded times of 12.64, just one one-hundredth of a second quicker than Cherry.

The race was so close that the five finishers from second place to sixth place were all separated by just two one-hundreths of a second.

Although the photo finish at “The Bird Nest” did not go in favor of Cherry, she still set the best individual performance by a former University of South Florida athlete and tied the best overall finish with Llewelyn Bredwood.

Bredwood participated in the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney as a part of Jamaica's 4x100 relay squad. His team finished just out of the medal contention after finishing the finals in fourth with a time of 38.2 seconds.

Cherry will always be known as USF's first Olympic track and field athlete to represent the United States of America, and still to this day holds the school record in the 55-meter, 60-meter and 100-meter hurdles.




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