It came four years later, almost to the day, but Canada finally has a medal in the Olympic women’s 100-metre hurdles.
That it was Whitby’s Priscilla Lopes-Schliep and not Pickering’s Perdita Felicien standing on the podium is one of the more interesting Canadian stories of the Beijing Olympics.
The Durham dynamo, a powerful five-foot-four package of pure rippling muscle, blazed across the finish line in 12.64 seconds Tuesday night to earn a bronze medal by a whisker.
Ms. Lopes-Schliep, a delightful, sweet-natured young woman off the track, is a ferocious, intense bulldog once she gets into the starting blocks. With an outside shot at medalling in the final, she came through to capture third place. That she didn’t even run her personal best leaves us all wondering just how low she can go and whether Olympic and World Championship gold awaits down the road.
The Whitby athlete has long raced in the shadow of her more famous Durham neighbour. Ms. Felicien, after all, was 2003 world champion and won a silver in the worlds last year. She was the favourite to win gold in Athens four years ago before her disastrous first-hurdle stumble that was felt across the country. Ms. Felicien was determined to rebound in Beijing, but it was not to be.
Ms. Felicien was felled by injury this year and relegated to commenting on the Olympics rather than competing on the team.
Now, Ms. Lopes-Schliep has proven by her clutch performance on the world’s biggest stage that she is a star in her own right, an athlete to reckon with on her own terms.
Her story is proof that plenty of hard work can elevate a local girl into the elite club of top female athletes around the globe. Years of dedication have been rewarded with an unforgettable race that will put her name into the exclusive club of Canadian track and field Olympic medallists.
It’s a small club and it’s not unreasonable to hope that two women from Durham can’t share the Olympic medal podium in London in 2012. We can hardly wait.
-- Metroland Durham Region Media Group
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