Trotter makes 2nd Olympic team, Willard breaks AR in victory
July 3, 2008

EUGENE, Oregon - First DeeDee Trotter put on one of the most courageous performances of these Olympic Trials, overcoming a chipped femur to make her second Olympic team at 400 meters. Then, in the Thursday night finale, Anna Willard took the lead with 600 meters remaining and blasted to a victory and American Record 9:27.59 in the 3000-meter steeplechase, to earn the right to call herself an Olympian.

"To be on an Olympic team ... I can't even comprehend," said a beaming Willard afterward, gesturing with a small American flag still in her left hand. "It's pretty cool to be a part of history." The women's steeplechase will be contested at the 2008 Olympics for the first time.

In the middle of the race, Willard heard the track announcer say the leaders were on a 9:28 pace, and thought "All right, I feel pretty good for a 9:28 pace." The 2007 NCAA Champion ran in second place for much of the race, but immediately gapped the field after taking the lead over the penultimate water jump.

It's been an exciting week for Willard, who prefaced her semifinal round by getting engaged to Jonathan Pierce, who competed in his steeplechase semifinal minutes before Willard's final. (Pierce sprinted back through the media area after his race to watch Willard's, missing only the first few hundred meters of it.)

For Trotter, the 2007 400-meter champion and 2004 Olympic gold medalist in the 4x400 relay, being here at all was more than she thought likely a few weeks ago. A car door banged into her left knee two months ago, chipping her femur and leaving bone fragments in her knee. Missing five weeks of training and running poorly when she was able to return to competition, Trotter came into the Trials finally on the upswing but uncertain of her fitness or whether the knee would hold up. Both proved fine, as she ran each round faster than the last. In the final, she notched a time of 50.88, to finish a strong third.

"My knee, right now if it's hurting I don't know," she said. "I'm still shaking. I would say this is probably my biggest victory. I've been USA Champion, yes. But have I ever been in the position I was in and had to fight as hard as I had to fight? No. This is my hardest fight. I feel like Tiger Woods. He came out and won the US Open; I came out and made the team. I can't ask for much more than that."