Inika McPherson (born September 29, 1986, in

Port Arthur, Texas Port Arthur is a city in Jefferson County within the Beaumont–Port Arthur metropolitan area of the U.S. state of Texas. A small, uninhabited portion extends into Orange County; it is east of Houston. The largest oil refinery in the United Sta ...

) 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 specializing in the

high jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

. She was the 2013 and 2014 US Indoor champion. She also won the women's high jump at the

2014 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships The 2014 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships was held at Hornet Stadium in Sacramento, California. Organised by USA Track and Field, the four-day competition took place June 26–29 in conjunction with the USA Junior Combined Events Outdoor ...

by clearing 2.00 m for the first time. McPherson has many tattoos and has had a variety of hairstyles, including

mohawks The Mohawk people ( moh, Kanienʼkehá꞉ka) are the most easterly section of the Haudenosaunee, or Iroquois Confederacy. They are an Iroquoian languages, Iroquoian-speaking Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous people of North America ...

Early career

She was a 2005 graduate of

Memorial High School Memorial High School may refer to: United States As ''Memorial High School'' alone *Memorial High School (Millville, New Jersey) *Memorial High School (West New York, New Jersey) *Memorial High School (St. Marys, Ohio) * Memorial High School (Tul ...

, of

where she was freshman state champion and a six foot high jumper as a freshman in high school. McPherson shares the freshman high school record with

Amy Acuff Amelia Lyn "Amy" Acuff (born July 14, 1975) is a track and field athlete from the United States. A high jump specialist, she competed in the 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games as a member of USA Track and Field. Her best Olympic perform ...

6 ft. Was also named ESPN female high jumper of the decade. Her high school best was 6'2" (1.87 m). She also excelled in the

triple jump The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to the long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down th ...

and lettered in four sports, was Texas

University Interscholastic League The University Interscholastic League (UIL) is an organization that creates rules for and administers almost all athletic, musical, and academic contests for public primary and secondary schools in the U.S. state of Texas. It is the largest organi ...

All-State and carried a 5.0 GPA.

College

Her next stop was the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

where she set the school indoor record and was a three time

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 ...

All American, though she didn't get back to the range of her 6'2" from high school. Due to an injury she battled with during her years at Cal which caused her to have ankle surgery on her take off foot in 2008. In 2009 McPherson came off ankle surgery and captured the Pac 10 Championship title and named female Athlete of the year at the University of California.

Professional

She has represented the United States at the 2016 Rio Olympics,

2007 Pan American Games The 2007 Pan American Games, officially known as the XV Pan American Games, were a major continental multi-sport event that took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from July 13 to 29, 2007. A total of 5,633 athletes from 42 National Olympic Com ...

, the

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

and

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

World Championships and the

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

and

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

World Indoor Championships. Her improvements have been in bursts. She moved into the rarefied air of elite competition by going 1.95 at the 2012

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 ...

, still finishing second to the eventual Olympic silver medalist Brigetta Barrett.

Doping sanction

McPherson tested positive for

benzoylecgonine Benzoylecgonine is the main metabolite of cocaine, formed by the liver and excreted in the urine. It is the compound tested for in most cocaine urine drug screens. Pharmacokinetics Chemically, benzoylecgonine is the benzoate ester of ecgonine. I ...

, the main metabolite of cocaine, at the

and subsequently accepted a 21-month doping ban through March 2016.USADA
US Track & Field Athlete, McPherson, Accepts Sanction For Rule Violation
usada.org, 19 December 2014

International competitions

Personal life

In 2014, she and Regina George announced on social media that they are in a relationship.www.bellanaija.com/
"Meet 23-Year-Old Nigerian-Venezuelan Commonwealth Games Sprinter Regina George & Her Partner", 07/2014

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:McPherson, Inika 1986 births American sportspeople in doping cases Doping cases in athletics Living people American female high jumpers Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic track and field athletes of the United States Lesbian sportswomen LGBT people from Texas American LGBT sportspeople LGBT track and field athletes USA Indoor Track and Field Championships winners Athletes (track and field) at the 2007 Pan American Games Pan American Games track and field athletes for the United States California Golden Bears women's track and field athletes