Brenda Taylor (born February 9, 1979) is an American

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

athlete who specialises in the

400 meter hurdles The 400 metres hurdles is a track and field hurdling event. The event has been on the Olympic athletics programme since 1900 for men and since 1984 for women. On a standard outdoor track, 400 metres is the length of the inside lane, once a ...

. She reached the final of the event at the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

. She also competed at the

2001 World Championships in Athletics The 8th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada between 3 August and 12 August and was the first time the event ...

and won a medal at the

2003 IAAF World Indoor Championships The 9th IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics were held in the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham, UK from 14 to 16 March 2003. It was the first time the Championships had been held in the UK. There were a total number of 589 participat ...

in the

4×400-meter relay Four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 ("four by four") or 4WD, refers to a two-axled vehicle drivetrain capable of providing torque to all of its wheels simultaneously. It may be full-time or on-demand, and is typically linked via a transfer case ...

. Taylor is a

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

medical graduate and won the hurdles at the 2001

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

Championships representing the

Harvard Crimson The Harvard Crimson are the intercollegiate athletic teams of Harvard College. The school's teams compete in NCAA Division I. As of 2013, there were 42 Division I intercollegiate varsity sports teams for women and men at Harvard, more than at ...

track team.

Career

Born in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...

, but grew up in Boone, North Carolina, and having graduated from Watauga High School in 1997, Taylor had her first successes on the track for

, while studying

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...

and

biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...

. She finished seventh in the 400 m hurdles at the NCAA Women's Outdoor Track and Field Championship in 2000. Taylor's greatest college achievements came in her final year at Harvard when she ran a personal best of 55.88 seconds to win the NCAA final. She improved her best to 55.46 at a meeting in

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...

and then went on to reach to podium at the 2001 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, winning the

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receive ...

. As a result of these achievements, Taylor received the 2000–01

Honda Sports Award The Honda Sports Award is an annual award in the United States, given to the best collegiate female athlete in each of twelve sports. There are four nominees for each sport, and the twelve winners of the Honda Sports Award are automatically in th ...

as the top women's collegiate track athlete.Brenda Taylor Biography

USATF USA Track & Field (USATF) is the United States national governing body for the sports of track and field, cross country running, road running and racewalking (known as the sport of athletics outside the US). The USATF was known between 1979 and ...

. Retrieved on 2010-06-30. Taylor's performance at the national championships gained her selection into the

. Taylor finished sixth place in her semi-final. The following year, she was again third place in the 400 m hurdles at the national championships. Taylor began the 2003 season with a fourth-place performance in the

400 metres The 400 metres, or 400-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics (sport), athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor runn ...

at the

USA Indoor Track and Field Championships The USA Indoor Track and Field Championships is an annual indoor track and field competition organized by USA Track & Field, which serves as the American national championships for the sport. In years which feature a World Indoor Championships in ...

. This earned her a place on the

4 × 400-meter relay 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. In mathematics Four is the smallest c ...

team at the

, where an American team of

Monique Hennagan Monique Hennagan (born May 26, 1976, in Columbia, South Carolina) is an American athlete who mainly competes in the 400 metres. She won her first relay medal at the 1999 World Indoor Championships and her second in 2003. Monique Hennagan gradua ...

, Meghan Addy, Taylor and Mary Danner took the bronze medal. In the outdoor season, Taylor came first at the

Mt. SAC Relays The Mt. SAC Relays are an annual track and field festival held primarily at Hilmer Lodge Stadium on the Mt. San Antonio College campus in Walnut, California. The Relays are held in mid-April each year since the first edition held on April 24-25, 1 ...

and again finished third at the Outdoor U.S. Championships. However, she encountered the more illicit side of track and field at the championships as she was offered the banned substance

modafinil Modafinil, sold under the brand name Provigil among others, is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant medication used to treat sleepiness due to narcolepsy, shift work sleep disorder, and obstructive sleep apnea. While it has seen off-label ...

. She claimed that she was "the only person that didn't take it". One of her competitors,

Sandra Glover Sandra Glover (née Cummings; born December 30, 1968, in Palestine, Texas) is an American former track and field athlete who competed in the 400-meter hurdles. She was a medalist in that event at the World Championships in Athletics in 2003 (silv ...

, was among those later banned for taking the drug at the championships. Taylor was chosen to compete at the

2003 Pan American Games The 2003 Pan American Games were held in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, from August 1 to 17, 2003. The successful bid for the games was made in the mid-1990s, when Dominican Republic had one of the highest growth rates in Latin America. Al ...

and she finished fourth behind

Andrea Blackett Andrea Melissa Blackett (born 24 January 1976, in London) is a Barbadian athlete who specializes in the 400 metres hurdles. She is also a women's track assistant coach at her alma mater, Rice University. Her greatest achievement in athletics i ...

in the 400 m hurdles final. Taylor attended track and field meetings in Europe, coming third in Zagreb and taking fourth at the Weltklasse Zurich in a personal record time of 54.92 seconds. She qualified for the

2003 IAAF World Athletics Final The 1st IAAF World Athletics Final was held at the Stade Louis II, in Monte Carlo, Monaco on 13 September and 14 September 2003. It was the series finale for the 2003 IAAF World Outdoor Meetings and the successor tournament to the 2002 IAAF Grand ...

and finished in fifth place, running 54.93 seconds.Taylor Brenda Biography

IAAF World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body for ...

. Retrieved on 2010-06-30. Taylor reached the pinnacle of her athletic career in 2004, beginning with a win at the Mt. SAC Relays in a meet record time, and a personal best beating run of 54.36 seconds for second at

Golden Spike Ostrava Golden Spike ( cz, Zlatá tretra) is an annual athletics event at the Městský Stadion in Ostrava- Vítkovice, Czech Republic as part of the IAAF World Challenge Meetings. It was first organized in 1961. The history of the meeting was interru ...

. At the 2004

United States Olympic Trials The United States Olympic Trials are competitions held in certain sports to select the United States' participants in those sports at the Olympic Games. These events include: * United States Olympic Trials (curling) * United States Olympic Trials (d ...

she improved even further, finishing as runner-up to Sheena Johnson with a time of 53.36 seconds. Gaining her first ever berth on the Olympic team, Taylor set her sights on the

2004 Athens Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

. Taylor reached the Olympic hurdles final and took seventh place with a run of 54.97 seconds. She closed the season with a bronze medal at the

2004 IAAF World Athletics Final The 2nd IAAF World Athletics Final was held at the Stade Louis II, in Monte Carlo, Monaco on September 18, and September 19, 2004. The hammer throw event for men and women had to take place in Szombathely, Hungary a week previous as the Monaco sta ...

. Her new best time of 53.36 ranked her as the fifth fastest 400 m hurdler of

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

. Taylor has a twin sister, Lindsay Taylor, who competes in the

pole vault Pole vaulting, also known as pole jumping, is a track and field event in which an athlete uses a long and flexible pole, usually made from fiberglass or carbon fiber, as an aid to jump over a bar. Pole jumping competitions were known to the Myc ...

.Toomey records historic 800-1500m double in USATF Indoors - Final Day

(2004-03-01). Retrieved on 2010-06-30. Taylor abruptly stopped competing in professional athletics after 2004.

Personal bests

Source *All information taken from IAAF profile.

Competition record

References

External links

*
In-depth article
from ''

Harvard Magazine ''Harvard Magazine'' is an independently edited magazine and separately incorporated affiliate of Harvard University. Aside from ''The Harvard Crimson'', it is the only publication covering the entire university, and also regularly distributed ...

''
Interview
with the ''

Watauga Democrat The ''Watauga Democrat'' is a weekly newspaper published in Boone, North Carolina. It was first published in 1888 to share news about the local Democrat Party, and today chronicles general local news in Watauga County. The ''Watauga Democrat'' ...

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Brenda 1979 births Living people American female hurdlers Track and field athletes from St. Louis Harvard Crimson women's track and field athletes Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics Olympic track and field athletes for the United States African-American female track and field athletes World Athletics Indoor Championships medalists Athletes (track and field) at the 2003 Pan American Games Pan American Games track and field athletes for the United States 21st-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American women 20th-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American women