Veronica Campbell-Brown C.D (born 15 May 1982) is a
track and field sprint athlete, competing internationally for
Jamaica
. A five-time
Olympic medallist, she is the reigning Olympic
200 metres champion. At the
2008 Beijing Olympics, she ran the
200 m in 21.74 seconds (the fastest time in a decade) and
became the second woman in history to win two consecutive Olympic
200 m events, after
Bärbel
Wöckel of Germany did so at the 1976 and 1980 Olympics.
Early life
Campbell
was born to Cecil Campbell and Pamella Bailey in Trelawny
, Jamaica
on 15 May
1982. She has nine brothers and sisters and attended Vere
Technical High School in
Clarendon before
pursuing higher education in the United States.
Junior career
In 1999, she won two gold medals the 100 m and
4 × 100 metres relay at the
inaugural
IAAF World
Youth Championships. The following year, she became the first
female to win the sprint double at the
IAAF World Junior
Championships. She took the 100 m in 11.12 s (the
current championship record) and the 200 m in 22.87 s. At
the
2000 Olympic Games, she ran
the second leg on the silver medal winning 4 × 100 m relay
team. Campbell is the only female athlete to win both the
100 m and 200 m sprints at the same World Youth
Championships.
College career
Campbell
attended Barton County
Community College in Great Bend
, Kansas
, where she
set several records and won many titles including four national
junior college titles in the 60, 100 and
200 metres both indoors and outdoors. She set the current
record for Barton County CC in the outdoor 100 m and
200 m. Campbell also excelled in academics earning an
associates degree from Barton County in 2002 with a 3.8 grade
average.
She later attended the University of
Arkansas
where she stood out as a sprint star in a program
dominated by long-distance runners.
Professional career
At the 2004 Olympics, Campbell first placed third in the
100 m
and two days later won the
200 m,
beating out
Allyson Felix of the
United States. She later teamed up with
Aleen Bailey,
Tayna
Lawrence, and
Sherone Simpson to
win the
4 × 100 m relay race.
In August 2005, Campbell won the silver medal in the 100 m at
the
2005 World
Championships in Athletics as well as another silver medal in
the 4 × 100 m relay (together with
Daniele Browning, Aleen Bailey and Sherone
Simpson).
At the
2007 World
Championships, Campbell won three medals with a gold in the
100 m, a silver in the 200 m (second to Felix) and a
silver in the 4 × 100 m relay.
At the
2008 Jamaican Olympic trials, she finished fourth in the
100 m, thereby missing the qualifying requirement to
automatically make the Jamaican
Olympic
roster for that event. She clocked 10.88 m in the
final, which is the second fastest time ever for a fourth place
finish. She however bounced back to take the 200 m final in a
personal best of 21.94 s. Failing to qualify for the
100 m, she only competed in the 200 m and the 4 ×
100 m relay at the Olympic Games. At the opening ceremony of
the
2008 Olympics, Veronica
Campbell-Brown carried the Jamaican flag during the Athletes'
Parade. She successfully defended her Olympic 200 m title in a
new personal best time of 21.74 s. She competed at the 4 ×
100 m relay together with
Shelly-Ann Fraser,
Sheri-Ann Brooks and Aleen Bailey. In the
first round heats, Jamaica placed first in front of Russia, Germany
and China. The Jamaican teams' time of 42.24 s was the first
time overall out of sixteen participating nations. With this
result, Jamaica qualified for the final, replacing Brooks and
Bailey with
Sherone Simpson and
Kerron Stewart. Jamaica did not
finish the race due to a mistake in the baton exchange.
At the end of the 2008 season, Campbell-Brown was selected the top
200 m runner in the world as well as the fourth best in the
100 m (following three other Jamaicans) by
Track and Field
News. She also finished eighth overall in voting for the
magazine's Woman of the Year.
She qualified for her third World Championships by winning the
200 m national title. She beat runners up Shelly Ann Fraser
and
Simone Facey with a time of
22.40 seconds in June 2009, although a toe injury had left her
lacking full fitness. At the
2009 World
Championships Campbell-Brown was fourth in the
100 m final behind teammates Fraser and Stewart. She then won
her second World 200 m silver behind American
Allyson Felix. She closed the season at the
Shanghai Golden Grand
Prix, recording her fastest of the year (10.89) to take second
behind
Carmelita Jeter, who became
the second fastest ever with 10.64 seconds. Although she was
roundly beaten by Jeter, Campbell-Brown was the fourth fastest
100 m sprinter overall that season.
Personal life
In 2007, Campbell married
Omar Brown, a
fellow Jamaican sprinter and University of Arkansas alumnus.
They
currently live and train in Clermont,
Florida
. She was appointed as a
UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador in
late 2009, and stated that she would use the role to promote
gender equity in sport.
Achievements
Campbell-Brown's personal best of 10.85 s in the 100 m
ranks her sixth among Jamaican women. Her 200 m best
(21.74 s) ranks her in the all-time top ten in the world. This
time is the third best among Jamaican women. It is the fastest time
of the 21st Century, and the fastest since
Marion Jones's 21.62 s in Johannesburg
1998.
Personal bests
- All information from IAAF Profile
Competition record

Veronica Campbell-Brown at the 2009
World Championships
| Year |
Tournament |
Venue |
Event |
Place |
Result |
| 1998 |
World
Junior Championships |
Annecy ,
France |
100 m |
17th |
12.04 |
| 1999 |
World
Youth Championships |
Bydgoszcz , Poland |
100 m |
1st |
11.49 |
| 2000 |
World Junior
Championships |
Santiago, Chile |
100 m |
1st |
11.12 |
| 200 m |
1st |
22.87 |
| 2002 |
Commonwealth Games |
Manchester , England |
100 m |
2nd |
11.00 |
| 2004 |
Olympic
Games |
Athens ,
Greece |
100 m |
3rd |
10.97 |
| 200 m |
1st |
22.05 |
| World
Athletics Final |
Monaco , Monaco |
100 m |
1st |
10.91 |
| 200 m |
1st |
22.64 |
| 2005 |
World
Championships |
Helsinki , Finland |
100 m |
2nd |
10.95 |
| 200 m |
4th |
22.38 |
| World
Athletics Final |
Monaco , Monaco |
100 m |
1st |
10.92 |
| 200 m |
2nd |
22.37 |
| 2006 |
Commonwealth Games |
Melbourne , Australia |
200 m |
2nd |
22.72A |
| 2007 |
World
Championships |
Osaka, Japan |
100 m |
1st |
11.01 |
| 200 m |
2nd |
22.34 |
| 2008 |
Olympic Games |
Beijing, China |
200 m |
1st |
21.74 |
| 2009 |
World
Championships |
Berlin , Germany |
100 m |
4th |
10.95 |
| 200 m |
2nd |
22.35 |
References
- Athlete biography: Veronica Campbell-Brown,
beijing2008.cn, ret: Aug 30, 2008
- [1]
- Dead link
- Track & Field News February 2009
- Foster, Anthony (2009-06-29). Bolt completes double; ‘Not 100%’ Veronica Campbell-Brown
runs 22.40 – JAM Champs, Day 3. IAAF. Retrieved on 2009-06-29.
- Yung, Jean (2009-09-20). Gay 9.69 and Jeter 10.64 at 100m; Liu Xiang makes dazzling
comeback – Shanghai Golden Grand Prix. IAAF. Retrieved on 2009-10-07.
- 100 Metres 2009. IAAF (2009-10-02). Retrieved on 2009-10-07.
- Dead Link
- Campbell-Brown, Veronica (2009-10-07). Veronica Campbell Brown named Unesco Ambassador - IAAF
Online Diaries. IAAF.
Retrieved on 2009-10-07.
- 200 Metres All Time. IAAF. Retrieved on 2009-03-12.
External links