Highly upset over being assigned lane 8 in the World Championships women’s 400m hurdles final this week, the defending Olympic and 2009 World champion, Jamaica’s Melaine Walker, thought seriously about not running the event. That she had been battling a shin injury throughout the season and looked a shadow her 2008–2009 form didn’t provide any drive either. However, it took a night of sleeping on it and a note of encouragement from her teammate Kerron Stewart to change her mind.
The story has been told that Walker woke up to a new day and a new mindset on the morning of the final and decided to run without wearing tapes. She wanted nothing on her to remind her that she was carrying an injury.
With her main rival, the USA’s Lashinda Demus, out of her sight behind her in lane 5, Walker ran with all she knew and with all she had, to lead Demus as far as the ninth hurdler, where she stumbled and forfeited the advantage to Demus. She still managed to post a season’s best 52.73secs to take the silver behind Demus, who clocked a world-leading 52.47 and ahead of Russian Natalya Antyukh with 53.88.
Without minimizing Demus’s victory, it’s hard to miss the tenacity of the gutsy Walker, as well as her sheer determination to overcome adversity. It’s the mettle of which true champions are made – the “it” that makes her rise to the top against all odds. “I can live with that [second place],” she said. “I’ll be better next year.”