May 9, 2001
For Immediate Release
GAIL DEVERS TO RACE AT PRE CLASSIC
Eugene, Oregon--Winner of six individual Olympic and World Championships
gold medals, one of the true legends in the sport, GAIL DEVERS will begin
her quest for another World Championships gold medal at the Prefontaine
Classic Grand Prix on May 27th at Hayward Field.
Devers will run the 100-Meter Hurdles, the event in which she has won
three WC golds, and in which she holds the American record of 12.33, set at
the 2000 Olympic Trials. The 34-year-old UCLA alum has also won two
individual gold medals in the Olympic 100 Meters in 1992 and 1996, the 1993
World Championships gold in the 100 Meters, as well as numerous relay golds.
She will race against a veritable Who's Who of hurdling, facing five
competitors ranked in the top 10 in the world last year by Track & Field
News magazine. Besides Devers (who was ranked No. 1 in the world,
overcoming a disappointment at the Sydney Games when she dropped out of the
semi-finals with a hamstring injury), there is No. 4 in the world MELISSA
MORRISON of the U.S., the bronze medal winner in Sydney; No. 5 DELLOREEN
ENNIS-LONDON of Jamaica, who finished 4th in the Olympic Games; No. 6
MICHELLE FREEMAN of Jamaica; No. 7 SHARON COUCH of the U.S.; and No. 8
ANJANETTE KIRKLAND of the U.S., who stunned the world's best hurdlers by
winning the World Indoor title in March.
All eyes will be on Devers, however, now in her 17th year of competition
(not counting the two years she spent battling Graves disease in 1989 and
1990). She made her first international team in 1984, as a 17-year-old
student at Sweetwater HS in National City, Calif., placing third in the Pan
Am Junior Championships 100 Meters, and now, at twice that age, is once
again ready for the sprint wars.
"Gail plans to open her season at the Pre Classic," said her agent,
Gregory Foster, himself a three-time World Champion in the
hurdles. "She'll do a meet or two before the Nationals (the GMC Envoy USA
Outdoor Track & Field Championships, to be held in Eugene, June 21-24),
then several Golden League meets before the World Championships. At this
point, she plans to run both the 100 Hurdles and 100 Meters at various
times this season. She'll start with the hurdles at Pre."
Devers is the meet recordholder in the 100 Hurdles, with a time of 12.64,
a mark set last year.
preclassic.com
