Sally Pearson OAM
Published Wed 01 Jan 2020
Sally Pearson was an international athlete for 16 years, the winner of countless honors across the globe, but it was for the 12.35 seconds at the 2012 Olympics Games in London for which she is best known and most loved.
Running from lane seven in the 100m hurdles final, with light rain falling, the Gold Coast dynamo was the fastest out of the gates. She led throughout, cleared the 10 hurdles perfectly, and hit the tape as defending champion Dawn Harper from the United States closed hard.
She didn't know. And then, as the result was posted, she screamed and jumped for joy. She'd won by 0.02 seconds.
Inspired by Cathy Freeman as a youngster, she'd done what only seven Australian women have ever done - she'd won Olympic gold on the trak. Marjorie Jackson, Shirley Strickland, Betty Cuthbert, Maureen Caird, Glynnis Nunn, Debbie Flintoff-King and now, in Olympic record time, Sally Pearson.
It was the moment in a career that included two world championships in 2011 and 2017, and an Olympic silver medal in 2008. The only female to twice win the coveted 'Don' award, considered Australian sport's highest honor, she was Queensland Sports Star of the Year in 2012 and is now a member of the Queensland Sport Hall of Fame...Sally Pearson OAM.