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.01 Seconds: Tampa's Cherry Finishes 4th In Hurdles

The Associated Press

Cherry Damu, left, and Lolo Jones react after the women's 100m hurdles final on Tuesday.

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By BILL WARD | TBO.com

Published: August 20, 2008

TAMPA - Moments after finishing a mere hundredth of a second from winning her first Olympic medal, Tampa's Damu Cherry sat inside Beijing's National Stadium with U.S. teammate Dawn Harper.

The two Americans were in the usual post-race drug testing for their event, the women's 100-meter hurdles. Cherry, fourth in the race, still had tears in her eyes as she looked longingly at the gold medal Harper had just won. Cherry wanted to hold it, if only for a moment.

"I said 'Can I just touch the medal? It's so beautiful,'" Cherry said early this morning by telephone from Beijing. "Dawn and I are good friends. She let me hold it."

Cherry, a Leto High and University of South Florida graduate, finished fourth in the medal race at 12.65 seconds, well off her personal best of 12.44. Harper, also an Olympics rookie, captured the gold with a lifetime best of 12.54. Separating the next four places was just two one-hundredths of a second, making it the closest finish for the women's hurdles race in Olympic history.

The 30-year-old Cherry had overcome so much to reach this race on her sport's biggest stage. She had battled back from injuries, a two-year suspension from the sport and, on the eve of qualification for the event in Beijing, a flu bug that caused her to lose several pounds. And in mere seconds, the race and her Olympics were over.

As she stood on the track waiting for the final results to appear on the stadium's huge scoreboard screen, Cherry was convinced she had finished second — third at worst — and was heading home to Florida with a medal. She just knew it.

But several minutes later, when timing officials finally sorted out the mass of bodies that seemed to cross the finish line simultaneously, Cherry and the 91,000 fans inside "The Bird's Nest" saw the same number appear next to her name: 4. Officials record the finish using high-speed digital cameras and timers and then review the photos to determine times and places.

"When I saw that, my heart just dropped," Cherry said. "I was like 'Oh my God, maybe if I had leaned more or started better.' I don't know, you just start second-guessing yourself at that point.

"I was really upset. I'm not going to lie. It's hard, especially when we all basically ran the same exact time."

In the case of second-place Sally McLellan of Australia and third-place Priscilla Lopes-Schliep of Canada, that was no exaggeration. Both hurdlers recorded times of 12.64 seconds but it was McLellan who earned the silver medal when her time was measured in thousandths of seconds.

Pre-race favorite Lolo Jones might have suffered more cruelty than Cherry's near-medal performance. Jones, the U.S. Olympic trials champion in the event and ranked No. 1 in the world, had built nearly a meter lead until she hit the ninth of 10 hurdles. She barely made it over the last hurdle and, after the chase pack passed her in the final 15 meters, wound up seventh in 12.72.

Cherry tried to console Jones after the race by putting an arm on her and patting her on the back.

"That's the nature of the hurdles," Cherry said. "You know every time you run a race you're taking a chance."

After walking off the track, it was Cherry's turn to be consoled. She met briefly with her parents, Don and Hassie Cherry, and then with her coach and fiancé, Dennis Mitchell. If anyone understood what Cherry was going through, it was Mitchell, who was fourth in the 100-meter dash at his final Olympics, the 1996 Atlanta Games.

"I understand it now when everyone says fourth is hard," Cherry said. "You don't understand it until you're in the moment, but I really get it now.

"I asked Dennis 'Didn't you get fourth [at the Olympics] and he said 'Yes, '96.' And I said 'Oh, then you know what I'm going through.' And he said 'Yes, I know what you're going through. Go ahead and cry and get it over with.' But then he told me 'Damu, you've had an incredible journey. You're a late bloomer and you've had far less races than anyone else."

This is why Cherry is determined to be back at the next Olympics, 2012 in London. As someone with a strong faith in God, she believes it's all part of his plan.

"I kind up looked up [to the sky] and said [to God] 'Why fourth?'" Cherry said. "But I have to put it in perspective and say 'Hey, there's more left in me, there's more for me to do and this is God saying 'You're just getting started.'"

Reporter Bill Ward can be reached at (813) 259-7456 or wward@tampatrib.com.

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