Jeremy Matthew Wariner (born January 31, 1984) is a retired

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

track athlete 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 event ...

specializing in the 400 meters. He has won four

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

medals (three

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, one

silver Silver is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂erǵ-, ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, whi ...

) and six

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

medals. He is the fourth fastest competitor in the history of the 400 m event with a personal best of 43.45 seconds, behind

Wayde van Niekerk Wayde van Niekerk (South African English: , ; born 15 July 1992) is a South African track and field Sprint (running), sprinter who competes in the 200 metres, 200 and 400 metres. In the 400 metres, he is the current world record, world and ...

(43.03 WR, 2016), Michael Johnson (43.18 WR, 1999) and

Butch Reynolds Harry Lee Reynolds Jr. (born June 8, 1964), commonly known as Butch Reynolds, is an American former track and field athlete who competed in the 400 meter dash. He held the world record for the event for 11 years with his personal best time of 4 ...

(43.29 WR, 1988) and the fifth fastest all-time mark when set it in 2007. Wariner was born in

Irving, Texas Irving is a city in the U.S. state of Texas. Located in Dallas County, it is also an inner ring suburb of Dallas. The city of Irving is part of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. According to a 2019 estimate from the United States Census Bureau, ...

. A successful college athlete at

Baylor University Baylor University is a private Baptist Christian research university in Waco, Texas. Baylor was chartered in 1845 by the last Congress of the Republic of Texas. Baylor is the oldest continuously operating university in Texas and one of the fir ...

, he won the 400 m and

4 × 400 m 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 ...

gold medals at his first Olympics in Athens 2004. He followed this with two gold medals at the 2005 World Championships in the same events. He remained undefeated in the 400 m event during the 2006

ÅF Golden League The IAAF Golden League was an annual series of outdoor track and field meetings organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). Athletes who won specific events at all of the series meetings were awarded a jackpot prize, ...

, earning him the $250,000 jackpot. He remained World Champion in the 400 m individual and relay events at the 2007 Osaka World Championships, earning him the 2007 Best Male Track Athlete ESPY Award. He won the 4×400 m relay gold medal at the

2008 Beijing Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nat ...

, but took silver in the 400 m, finishing behind countryman

LaShawn Merritt LaShawn Merritt (born June 27, 1986) is an American track and field athlete who competes in sprinting events, specializing in the 400 metres. He is a former Olympic champion over the distance and his personal best of 43.65 seconds makes him th ...

. Wariner picked up the silver medal in the 2009 World Championships, again finishing second to Merritt.

Early career

Jeremy Wariner attended Lamar High School in

Arlington, Texas Arlington is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, located in Tarrant County. It forms part of the Mid-Cities region of the Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan statistical area, and is a principal city of the metropolis and region. ...

, participating in multiple sports and being recognized for his outstanding speed. Under the coaching of Mike Nelson, who also coached 110 meters hurdler Reggie Harrell at Lamar High School, he was the 2002 Texas 5A state sprint champion at both 200 meters and 400 meters, setting high school bests of 20.41 seconds ( wind assisted) and 45.57 seconds, respectively. Enrolling at

, he quickly established himself as a collegiate sprint talent under the guidance of

Clyde Hart Clyde Hart (born 1935) is the director of track and field at Baylor University. Hart retired as head coach for the Baylor track program on June 14, 2005 after 42 years with the program. Hart is primarily known as the only coach to have instructed ...

, who was also coach of Baylor alumnus and four-time Olympic 400 m gold medal winner and two-time world champion Michael Johnson. Somewhat hampered by injuries late in his freshman year, Wariner regained form as a sophomore, winning both the 2004 NCAA Division I indoor and outdoor 400 metres titles. Later that year, he claimed the national 400 m title at the USATF Championships making him the favorite for the gold medal 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), ...

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

. Wariner then made his first appearance on the world athletic stage at the

. He won two Olympic gold medals, the first in the 400 m in a personal best 44.00 seconds and the second as the third leg of the U.S. 4 × 400 m relay team. Following his Olympic successes, he turned professional, forgoing the rest of his collegiate eligibility, though he remained at his parents' house and continued to be coached by Clyde Hart.

Professional career

The next year, Wariner won the 400 m at the 2005 USATF championship with a time of 44.20 s. At the Helsinki World Championships on a cold and rainy day he won the 400 m in 43.93 seconds. He would then anchor the American team in the 4 × 400 m relay for the gold medal. Early in 2006, Wariner competed in the 200 m lowering his personal best to 20.19 s. Later that year he would set a new personal best of 43.62 seconds at 400 m at the

Golden Gala Golden Gala is an annual track and field event normally held at the Olympic Stadium in Rome, Italy. Previously one of the IAAF Golden League events, it is now part of the Diamond League. Following the 2013 death of Italian sprinting legend Piet ...

Meet in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. Together with

Asafa Powell Asafa Powell, CD (born 23 November 1982) is a retired Jamaican sprinter who specialised in the 100 metres. He set the 100 metres world record twice, between June 2005 and May 2008 with times of 9.77 and 9.74 seconds. Powell has consiste ...

(100 m) and

Sanya Richards Sanya Richards-Ross (née Richards; born February 26, 1985) is a retired Jamaican-American track and field athlete, who competed internationally for the United States in the 400-meter sprint. Her notable accolades in this event include being th ...

(women's 400 m) he won his sixth out of six Golden League events (400 m) in the same season, which earned him a total of $250,000. In 2007 he filled a summer with dominating 400 m performances culminating with the Osaka World Championships where on August 31, 2007 he would win the 400 m in 43.45 s thereby improving his personal best to become the then-third-fastest of all time (only Michael Johnson and

had run faster).

Rivalry with Merritt

In 2008, Wariner left long-time coach Clyde Hart in favor of working with Baylor assistant coach Michael Ford.Peter, Josh (2008-07-28)
Wariner changes coaches, loses aura
. Yahoo Sports. Retrieved on 2009-09-01. This was an unexpected move as Wariner had much success under Hart, who had also coached his agent Michael Johnson. Wariner stated that he needed a change as Hart was nearing retirement, although the coach said that the split was due to a pay dispute.Broadbent, Rick (2009-07-18)
Jeremy Wariner finds form after reinstating coach
''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

''. Retrieved on 2009-09-01. By the time of the 2008 USATF championship Wariner and Johnson had to face many probing questions regarding the reasons for such a change in an Olympic year. He finished second to

in the 400 m final of the USATF championship and secured his place on the U.S. Olympic team in the 400 m event and the 4×400 m relay team. Warinerbeijing

In the 2008 Olympics, Wariner qualified for the final with a time of 44.12 s, in a run which he slowed down considerably in the final fifty meters. This led to much anticipation that he could beat Michael Johnson's world record in the final, but instead he took the silver, losing to

by nearly a second. David Neville came in third completing a United States sweep of the 400 m. Following his disappointment with the silver medal at the Olympics, Wariner admitted he had made a mistake in sacking Hart. He apologized to the

emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

coach after Johnson advised him that his new workout programme with Ford was lacking in some areas and took him back on as coach. The emergence of Merritt had left Wariner as the second-best athlete for the first time in his professional career. In the 2009 World Championships, Wariner won the silver medal in the 400 m, again finishing behind LaShawn Merritt, and the gold medal in the 4 × 400 m relay.

2012 London Olympics

Wariner was named to his third Olympic team as part of the Team USA 4 × 400 m relay squad. The two-time Olympic medalist in the 400m had failed to make the individual 400m event after starting poorly and finishing sixth in 45.24 seconds in the US Olympic Trials in Eugene, Oregon on June 24, 2012. At the Olympics as part of the relay squad, Wariner pulled out of the team due to a torn hamstring.

2013 comeback

In March 2013, Wariner returned to victory by becoming the National Champion at 400 m at the USA Indoor Track & Field Championships. However at the 2013 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, Wariner was unable to get out of the qualifying round, finishing dead last in his qualifying heat and the field. He ran 44.96 at the 2016 Mt. SAC Relays to qualify for the 2016 United States Olympic Trials. At the time it was the #2 time in the world behind only

Martyn Rooney Martyn Joseph Rooney (born 3 April 1987) is an English Sprint (running), sprinter who specialises in the 400 metres event. He reached the 400 m final at the 2008 Summer Olympics and won bronze in the 4×400 metres relay. A mainstay on the a ...

's 44.92 set a few minutes earlier on the same track. But at the trials, he pulled up 250 meters into the semifinal race.

Accolades and Awards

In 2014, Wariner was inducted into the Baylor Bears Hall of Fame. He was Inducted into the Texas Track and Field Coaches Hall of Fame, Class of 2016.

Personal bests

Personal life

Wariner married attorney Sarah Nichols (now Wariner) in 2011. Together, the couple raises three children: Isabella, Lincoln, and Elijah. Outside of their personal careers, the Wariners own a

Jimmy John's Jimmy John's is an American sandwich chain headquartered in Champaign, Illinois. The business was founded by Jimmy John Liautaud in 1983. After Liautaud graduated from high school, his father gave him a choice to either join the military or sta ...

franchise in

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County w ...

, where Jeremy also serves as general manager. As of 2021, Wariner was also head track coach at Parish Episcopal School in Dallas. In the summer of 2018, Wariner was a "flex" player for Godspeed, a

flag football Flag football is a variant of American football where, instead of tackling players to the ground, the defensive team must remove a flag or flag belt from the ball carrier ("deflagging") to end a Down (gridiron football), down. The sport has a ...

team made mostly of former professional

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

players that participated in the

American Flag Football League The American Flag Football League is a semi-professional flag football league started in 2017. The league was founded by Jeff Lewis in May 2017. Lewis spent nine months building the league, getting investors, setting the rules, and finding player ...

(AFFL). The team was crowned the champion of participating pro teams but lost in the final match to the amateur champion team. Wariner's

maternal ] A mother is the female parent of a child. A woman may be considered a mother by virtue of having given birth, by raising a child who may or may not be her biological offspring, or by supplying her ovum for fertilisation in the case of gestat ...

great-great-great-grandmother was

Cherokee The Cherokee (; chr, ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ, translit=Aniyvwiyaʔi or Anigiduwagi, or chr, ᏣᎳᎩ, links=no, translit=Tsalagi) are one of the indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, t ...

Rankings

Wariner was ranked among the best in the US and the world in the 400 m sprint event in the period 2004 to 2013, according to the votes of the experts of ''

Track and Field News ''Track & Field News'' is an American monthly sports magazine founded in 1948 by brothers Bert Nelson and Cordner Nelson, focused on the world of track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on runni ...

''.

References

External links

* * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wariner, Jeremy 1984 births Living people Olympic gold medalists for the United States in track and field Olympic silver medalists for the United States in track and field Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics American male sprinters Baylor Bears men's track and field athletes Lamar High School (Arlington, Texas) alumni Native American sportspeople American people of Cherokee descent People from Irving, Texas Sportspeople from the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex Track and field athletes from Texas World Athletics Championships medalists Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics IAAF Golden League winners Diamond League winners USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners USA Indoor Track and Field Championships winners IAAF Continental Cup winners World Athletics Championships winners