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Carmelita Jeter

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Carmelita Jeter
Jeter at the 2011 World Championships
Personal information
Born (1979-11-24) November 24, 1979 (age 44)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Height5 ft 4 in (1.63 m)
Weight135 lb (61 kg)
Sport
CountryUnited States United States
SportRunning
Event(s)100 meters, 200 meters
Medal record
Event 1st 2nd 3rd
Olympic Games 1 1 1
World Championships 3 1 3
World Indoor Championships 0 1 0
World Athletics Final 2 0 0
Total 6 3 4
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 2012 London 4×100 m relay
Silver medal – second place 2012 London 100 m
Bronze medal – third place 2012 London 200 m
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 2007 Osaka 4×100 m relay
Gold medal – first place 2011 Daegu 100 m
Gold medal – first place 2011 Daegu 4×100 m relay
Silver medal – second place 2011 Daegu 200 m
Bronze medal – third place 2007 Osaka 100 m
Bronze medal – third place 2009 Berlin 100 m
Bronze medal – third place 2013 Moscow 100 m
World Indoor Championships
Silver medal – second place 2010 Doha 60 m
World Relay Championships
Silver medal – second place 2015 Nassau 4×100 m relay
World Athletics Final
Gold medal – first place 2007 Stuttgart 100 m
Gold medal – first place 2009 Thessaloniki 100 m

Carmelita Jeter (/ˈdʒɛtər/ JET-tər, born November 24, 1979) is a retired American sprinter, who competed in the 60 metres, 100 m and 200 m. For over a decade, between 2009 and 2021, Jeter was called the "Fastest woman alive" after running a 100 m personal best of 10.64 seconds at the 2009 Shanghai Golden Grand Prix. In the 100 m, she was the 2011 world champion and the 2012 Olympic silver medalist.

She won the 100 m bronze at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics and a gold at the World Athletics Final. She won a second World Championship bronze in 2009. Her personal best of 10.64 s makes her the fourth fastest woman ever in the 100 m, behind Florence Griffith Joyner's long-standing world record, Elaine Thompson-Herah's 10.54 seconds and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce's 10.60 seconds.[1]

In May 2023, she was named the new head coach of the track & field and cross country programs at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV).[2]

Early life

[edit]

Jeter attended Bishop Montgomery High School in Torrance, California.[3] Initially, basketball was the preferred sport in her family, and her younger brother, Eugene, later joined the Sacramento Kings. Her basketball coach suggested that she try out track, and an 11.7-second run confirmed her natural talent for sprinting.[4] Jeter graduated from California State University, Dominguez Hills, which is located in Carson, California, with a bachelor's degree in physical education. Jeter set the record for most NCAA medals by a CSUDH track athlete and became the university's first U.S. Olympic Trials qualifier. A recurring hamstring problem kept her out of competition for much of 2003–05, and it was not until 2007 that she made her first impact in senior track and field athletics, having undergone treatment with deep tissue massage.[5]

International success

[edit]
Jeter at the 2007 World Championships

In 2007, Jeter won a silver medal in the 60 meters at the USA Indoor Track and Field Championships with a personal best of 7.17 seconds,[6] and she remained in good form, improving her 100 m best to 11.04 seconds to take fourth place in the 100 m at the Adidas Track Classic.[4] Building upon this, she qualified for her first major competition by finishing third at the national championships behind Torri Edwards and Lauryn Williams.[7] She went on to win the bronze medal at the World Championships in a personal best time of 11.02 seconds, as well as taking the 100 m gold at the 2007 World Athletics Final.

The following year, she competed at the 100 and 200 m U.S. Olympic trials. Although she set a 100 m best of 10.97 seconds in the quarter-finals,[8] she did not progress beyond the semifinals, finishing just two hundredths out of the qualifying positions.[9] A sixth-place finish in the 200 m meant she had not made the 2008 Summer Olympics team, despite being one of the favourites for selection.[10] She qualified for the 100 and 200 m races at the 2008 World Athletics Final, but only managed fourth and fifth place, respectively. She changed coach in November, deciding to work with John Smith, who had previously coached athletes such as Maurice Greene. Smith began completely remodelling Jeter's running style.[4]

In her 2009 season, she showed strong performances going into the 2009 World Championships in Athletics. She ran 7.11 seconds in the 60 m in the indoor season, the fastest by any athlete that year and a personal best.[11] She remained in-form in her outdoor season, recording a fast 10.96 seconds at the Mt. SAC Relays,[12] winning gold at the 2009 Nike Prefontaine Classic, and taking her first national title at the 2009 U.S. Outdoor Championships.[13] At the 2009 London Grand Prix, she placed first in the 100 m, clocking a personal best of 10.92; it was the third-fastest time at that point of the season, only slower than Jamaica's Shelly-Ann Fraser and Kerron Stewart. A week prior to the start of the World Championships, Jeter was part of a United States 4 × 100 m relay team that ran the fastest women's sprint relay in twelve years. Lauryn Williams, Allyson Felix, Muna Lee, and Jeter finished with a time of 41.58 seconds, bringing them to eighth on the all-time list.[14]

Jeter running in the World Championships in Berlin

At the 2009 World Athletics Championships, in Berlin, Jeter was one of the favorites for the gold medal as a 10.83-second personal best in the semis made her the fastest qualifier for the final. She ended up with her second World Championship bronze medal in the 100 m, however, finishing a tenth of a second behind Fraser and Stewart. The races after the championships proved more successful: she beat strong opposition in the IAAF Golden League meets in Zurich and Brussels with two sub-10.90 runs.[15][16]

Jeter was also selected to run as part of the US relay team as the anchor runner. However, in their heat, during the change over between Alexandria Anderson and Muna Lee, Lee horrifically injured her leg which caused elimination from the relay event. Jamaica eventually claimed the gold medals.

She entered the 2009 IAAF World Athletics Final having won her last three races by a significant margin. Even taking this into account, Jeter surprised with one of the highlights of the final edition of the IAAF World Athletics Final.[4][17] She won the 100 m race in Thessaloniki, Greece with a time of 10.67, to become the third fastest woman in history and set a championship record.[18][19] This was the fastest run in twelve years; a time which had only been bettered by Marion Jones and Florence Griffith-Joyner,[20] and 0.16 seconds faster than Jeter had ever run before.[21] She ran even faster a week later at the Shanghai Golden Grand Prix, winning in 10.64 seconds (the fourth fastest time ever) to become the second fastest woman outright.[22]

Her fast times were a double-edged sword in that they brought as much suspicion as they did appreciation. At age 30, Jeter had improved her personal record by over a third of a second within a single season and she ranked between Jones and Griffith-Joyner in the all-time lists. Given the history of the women's sprints and speculation about performance-enhancing drug use, Jeter said "I can't be upset about those questions [but] It's unfortunate that I work this hard and I don't get the credit I should get".[23] She improved her 60 m best to 7.02 seconds to win at the USA Indoor Track and Field Championships. This was still slower than LaVerne Jones-Ferrette, and Jeter resolved to improve further for the 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships.[24]

She retired in 2017 after injury prevented her from competing in the 2016 Olympics.[25]

Personal bests

[edit]
Jeter at the 2009 World Championships
Event Time (seconds) Venue Date
55 meters 6.84 Fresno, California, United States January 21, 2008
60 meters 7.02 Albuquerque, United States February 28, 2010
100 meters 10.64 Shanghai, China September 20, 2009
200 meters 22.11 Eugene, United States June 30, 2012
  • All information from IAAF profile.[26]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "IAAF: 100 Metres - men - senior - outdoor - 2018 - iaaf.org". iaaf.org.
  2. ^ "UNLV Selects Carmelita Jeter To Lead Its Track & Field And Cross Country Programs". University of Nevada Las Vegas Athletics. May 25, 2023.
  3. ^ "Former BMHS, CSDH standout Jeter edges Lee for U.S. women's 100 title". Daily Breeze. MNG. June 27, 2009. Archived from the original on August 17, 2009. Retrieved September 15, 2009.
  4. ^ a b c d Arcoleo, Laura (September 13, 2009). Jeter's rise continues, all the way to 10.67! – IAAF / VTB Bank World Athletics Final. IAAF. Retrieved on 2009-09-17.
  5. ^ Carmelita Jeter Biography. USATF. Retrieved on July 25, 2009.
  6. ^ 2007 US Indoor Championships Women 60 Meter Dash. USATF. Retrieved on September 17, 2009.
  7. ^ 2007 US Championships Women 100 Meter Dash. USATF. Retrieved on September 17, 2009.
  8. ^ Women 100 Meter Dash quarterfinals results. USATF. Retrieved on July 25, 2009.
  9. ^ Women 100 Meter Dash semifinals results. USATF. Retrieved on July 25, 2009.
  10. ^ Women 200 Meter Dash final results. USATF. Retrieved on July 25, 2009.
  11. ^ 60 Metres 2009. IAAF (March 22, 2009). Retrieved on 2009-07-25.
  12. ^ Lee, Kirby (April 19, 2009). World leads for Jeter and Johnson in Mt. SAC Relays – Day 3. IAAF. Retrieved on 2021-08-07.
  13. ^ Morse, Parker (June 27, 2009). Jeter and Rodgers take 100m titles in Eugene – US Champs, Day 2. IAAF. Retrieved on 2021-08-07.
  14. ^ Wenig, Jörg (August 8, 2009). US quartet blasts 41.58 in the 4x100 as Wlodarczyk improves to 77.20m in Cottbus Archived August 10, 2009, at the Wayback Machine. IAAF. Retrieved on 2009-08-09.
  15. ^ 2009 Weltklasse Zurich 100 metres W. IAAF. Retrieved on September 17, 2009.
  16. ^ 2009 Memorial Van Damme 100 metres W. IAAF. Retrieved on September 17, 2009.
  17. ^ Stunning Jeter run upstages Bolt. BBC Sport (September 13, 2009). Retrieved on 2009-09-17.
  18. ^ Jeter – 10.67 – third fastest of all-time! IAAF / VTB Bank World Athletics Final. IAAF. Retrieved on July 17, 2009.
  19. ^ Demetris Nellas (September 13, 2009). "Jeter becomes 3rd fastest woman ever in 100". USA Today. Retrieved September 14, 2009.
  20. ^ 100 Metres All Time. IAAF (September 15, 2009). Retrieved on 2009-09-17.
  21. ^ 100 Metres 2009. IAAF (September 16, 2009). Retrieved on September 17, 2009
  22. ^ Gay clocks stunning 100m in China. BBC Sport (September 20, 2009). Retrieved on 2009-09-21.
  23. ^ Kessel, Anna (February 20, 2010). Carmelita Jeter bears the burden of being the fastest woman alive. The Guardian. Retrieved on 2010-02-20.
  24. ^ Lee, Kirby (March 1, 2010). World Leads by Dunn, Trammell and Williams, Jeter jets 7.02 – USA Indoor Champs Day 2. IAAF. Retrieved on 2010-03-01.
  25. ^ "Fastest woman alive retires". November 7, 2017.
  26. ^ "Jeter, Carmelita biography". IAAF. Retrieved July 25, 2009.
[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Carmelita Jeter.
Awards
Preceded by Women's Jesse Owens Award
2011 		Succeeded by
Incumbent
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