Yvette Lewis (born March 16, 1985) is a German-born

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 and field athlete who competes for Panama in the

100 meter hurdles The 100 metres hurdles, or 100-meter hurdles, is a track and field event run mainly by women (the male counterpart is the 110 metres hurdles). For the race, ten hurdles of a height of are placed along a straight course of . The first hurdle is p ...

and the triple jump. She represented the United States in international competition until October 2012 when switched to compete for Panama. Her best time in the hurdles is 12.76 seconds while her best triple jump is 13.84 meters. She won the

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

in the hurdles at the

2011 Pan American Games The 2011 Pan American Games, officially the XVI Pan American Games, was an international multi-sport event that was held from October 14–30, 2011, in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. Some events were held in the nearby cities of Ciudad Guzmán, ...

She represented

Hampton University Hampton University is a private, historically black, research university in Hampton, Virginia. Founded in 1868 as Hampton Agricultural and Industrial School, it was established by Black and White leaders of the American Missionary Association af ...

collegiately and was the NCAA triple jump champion indoors in 2006 and outdoors in 2007. She has represented the United States twice at the

Pan American Games The Pan American Games (also known colloquially as the Pan Am Games) is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas featuring summer sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The competition is held ...

(2007 and 2011) as was a silver medalist in the 4×100 meter relay in 2011.

Career

Lewis was born in

Flensburg Flensburg (; Danish, Low Saxon: ''Flensborg''; North Frisian: ''Flansborj''; South Jutlandic: ''Flensborre'') is an independent town (''kreisfreie Stadt'') in the north of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. Flensburg is the centre of the ...

, Germany, as her family was based there due to her father Donnie Lewis placement in the army. Her mother, Lorna Dowlin, had competed athletically, but had given up pursuing sports in order to focus on her family.November 2011 Athlete of the Month: Yvette Lewis
. Olympic Voice. Retrieved 2011-11-06. Raised in

Newport News, Virginia Newport News () is an independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. At the 2020 census, the population was 186,247. Located in the Hampton Roads region, it is the 5th most populous city in Virginia and 140th most populous city in the Uni ...

, Lewis initially competed in a variety of events, but made her international debut as a triple jumper at the

2004 World Junior Championships in Athletics The 2004 World Junior Championships in Athletics were held in Grosseto, Italy on 12–18 July. Results Men Women Medal table Participation According to an unofficial count through an unofficial result list, 1261 athletes from 168 count ...

.Lewis Yvette

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 2011-11-06. She went on to compete in NCAA Division I for

's Lady Pirates. While there, she represented the university in a variety of events, including triple jump, hurdles, long jump and the short

sprint Sprint may refer to: Aerospace *Spring WS202 Sprint, a Canadian aircraft design *Sprint (missile), an anti-ballistic missile Automotive and motorcycle *Alfa Romeo Sprint, automobile produced by Alfa Romeo between 1976 and 1989 *Chevrolet Sprint, ...

s. At the 2005 USA Indoor Track and Field Championships she came eight in the long jump and seventh in the triple jump. In 2006, she became the NCAA Indoor Champion in the triple jump with a personal record mark of 13.75 meters. At the NCAA Outdoor Championship later that year she came fourth with a jump of 13.59 m and was a 100 m hurdles semi-finalist. She made her debut at the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships and claimed the triple jump

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 well as setting a hurdles personal record of 13.14 seconds in the semi-finals of that event. She represented her country in the triple jump at the 2006

NACAC Under-23 Championships in Athletics The NACAC U23 Championships in Athletics is an under-23 athletics competition held between the member associations of the North American, Central American and Caribbean Athletic Association The North American, Central American and Caribbean Athlet ...

and finished in fourth place.Yvette Lewis
Tilastopaja. Retrieved 2011-11-06. At the 2007 NCAA Indoors, Lewis was the runner-up in the triple jump and had minor placings in the hurdles and long jump. Greater success came outdoors as she became the 2007 NCAA triple jump champion with a jump of 13.73 m and reached the 100 m hurdles final with a new best run of 13.06 seconds. A jump of 13.59 m at the USA Nationals brought her second place behind

Shani Marks Shani Marks (Johnson) (born August 24, 1980, in Bloomington, Minnesota) is an American athlete who competes in the triple jump. Marks finished first at the U.S. Olympic Trials to qualify for the 2008 Summer Olympics. Marks was a state champion at ...

and she was yet again a hurdles semi-finalist. Despite her high national placing, she could not compete at the

2007 World Championships in Athletics The 11th World Championships in Athletics, () under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), were held at Nagai Stadium in Osaka, Japan from 24 August to 2 September 2007. 200 of the IAAF's 212 member federat ...

as she had not achieved the necessary qualifying standard. However, she was selected to compete in both events for the American team for the

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 ...

. At that competition, she came sixth in the triple jump and last in the hurdles final.Yvette Lewis
USATF (2008). Retrieved 2011-11-06. Having graduated from Hampton in 2007, she turned to professional competitions in 2008. She dipped under 13 seconds for the hurdles for the first time that year and ran a personal record of 12.87 seconds in the

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 ...

semi-finals. She was a triple jump finalist at the event, but finished just outside the top three in spite of a new best jump of 13.84 m. Having missed qualification for 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 ...

, she competed on the European track circuit and ran a 100 m hurdles best of 12.85 seconds at the

Herculis The Herculis is an annual track and field meet at Stade Louis II in Fontvieille, Monaco. Previously one of the five IAAF Super Grand Prix events, it is now part of the Diamond League. World records Over the course of its history, five world reco ...

meeting. She ended her year at the DAK Leichtathletik-Gala, coming sixth in the triple jump and third in the hurdles. Her 2009 season began at European indoor meets: she won the

60 meter hurdles 60 metres hurdles is a distance in hurdling which is generally run in indoor competitions. It is equivalent with the first 5 hurdles of a standard outdoor hurdle race. The current women's and men's world records are 7.68 seconds ( Susanna K ...

at the

PSD Bank Meeting The PSD Bank Meeting was an annual indoor track and field competition which took place in February at the Arena-Sportpark in Düsseldorf, Germany. The inaugural edition ''1. Internationales Indoor Meeting Düsseldorf'' was held in 2006 and attrac ...

then ran a new best time of 8.05 seconds at the

BW-Bank Meeting Indoor Meeting Karlsruhe, formerly known as BW-Bank Meeting, is an annual indoor track and field competition which takes place in January or February in Karlsruhe, Germany. The meeting was first held at the Europahalle in 1985 and is currently a W ...

. The Birmingham Indoor Grand Prix saw her compete in a three-event challenge, where she won the hurdles and set new indoor bests in the long jump (6.29 m) and

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 ...

(56.63 seconds) to finish in second place overall. She returned to the United States for the outdoor season and made her impact 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 ...

, winning the 100 m hurdles and coming second in the triple jump behind Shakeema Welsch. She came close to a new personal best at the

adidas Track Classic The Adidas Track Classic is an American track and field athletics meeting which has taken place annually in Carson, California since 2005. The meeting forms part of the USA Track & Field Visa Championship Series and is also one of the few area mee ...

, where she won the triple jump in a meet record of 13.82 m. Following wins in the hurdles at the

Primo Nebiolo Primo Nebiolo (14 July 1923 – 7 November 1999) was an Italian sports official, best known as president of the worldwide athletics federation IAAF. Primo Nebiolo was the ideator of the IAAF Continental Cup. Biography As an active athlete in ...

and Josef Odložil Memorial meetings in Europe, she competed at the

2009 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships The 2009 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships took place between June 25–28 at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon. The competition acted as a way of selecting the United States team for the 2009 World Championships in Athletics in Berlin later ...

and reached the hurdles semi-finals and triple jumped a windy 13.88 m for fourth place in that event. Having missed out on the major championships again, she returned to hurdling in Europe and equalled her best time to win at the International Leichtathletik-Sportfest in

Cuxhaven Cuxhaven (; ) is an independent town and seat of the Cuxhaven district, in Lower Saxony, Germany. The town includes the northernmost point of Lower Saxony. It is situated on the shore of the North Sea at the mouth of the Elbe River. Cuxhaven has ...

. Lewis focused on hurdling for the 2010 season and ran well in Europe, achieving a new 60 m hurdles best of 7.90 seconds and finishing as runner-up at the PSD Bank, BW-Bank, and Sparkassen Cup meets. She competed sparingly in the outdoor season due to a serious injury to her right ankle. After running on the European indoor circuit in early 2011, she came third in the hurdles at the USA Indoor Championships. At the 2011 USA Outdoor Championships, she was fifth in the triple jump and reached the hurdles final, although she was disqualified for a false start. She competed in the hurdles at a number of

2011 IAAF Diamond League The 2011 IAAF Diamond League (also known as the 2011 Samsung Diamond League for sponsorship purposes) was the second edition of the Diamond League, an annual series of fourteen one-day track and field meetings. The series began on 6 May in Doha, Q ...

meets that year, including a second-place finish at the Memorial Van Damme final. A new personal record of 12.76 seconds came at the inaugural István Gyulai Memorial in Budapest and she broke the meeting record at the Palio Citta della Quercia with a run of 12.87 seconds into a headwind. She helped the United States top the table at the

DécaNation DécaNation is an annual track and field meeting organized by the French Athletics Federation (Fédération Française d'Athlétisme) since 2005. The competition comprises national teams of athletes competing in a decathlon, with each athlete compet ...

with a hurdles win and was then selected for the national team at the

.Vazel, Pierre-Jean (2011-09-19)
Lemaitre and Lesueur produce the highlights at DecaNation
IAAF. Retrieved 2019-10-10. She excelled at the continental competition by taking the hurdles

in a time of 12.82 seconds in the altitude of

Guadalajara Guadalajara ( , ) is a metropolis in western Mexico and the capital of the list of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population of 1,385,629 people, making it the 7th largest city by population in Me ...

. This made her the first American medalist in the hurdles event in twelve years and the first American winner since

LaVonna Martin LaVonna Ann Martin-Floreal (born November 18, 1966) is an American former track and field athlete who competed mainly in the 100-meter hurdles. She won an Olympic silver medal in 1992. Career She competed for the United States in the 1992 Summer ...

24 years previously. She won a second medal for her country in the 4×100 meter relay race, where the American team took the silver, and she also managed seventh place in the triple jump.

Personal bests

Outdoor

*100 m: 11.56 (wind: +1.9 m/s) – New York City, 13 July 2007 *200 m: 23.50 (wind: +0.3 m/s) – Greensboro, North Carolina, 5 May 2006 *100 m hurdles: 12.67 (wind: +1.5 m/s) – Lahti, 17 July 2013 *Triple jump: 13.84 m (wind: +0.5 m/s) –

Eugene, Oregon Eugene ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is located at the southern end of the Willamette Valley, near the confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette rivers, about east of the Oregon Coast. As of the 2020 United States Census, Eu ...

, 17 July 2013 *Heptathlon: 5378 pts –

Chula Vista, California Chula Vista (; ) is the second-largest city in the San Diego metropolitan area, the Largest cities in Southern California, seventh largest city in Southern California, the List of largest California cities by population, fifteenth largest city ...

, 9 June 2012

Achievements

References

External links

Yvette Lewis
at All-Athletics.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Lewis, Yvette 1985 births Living people Sportspeople from Newport News, Virginia American female hurdlers Panamanian female hurdlers American female triple jumpers Panamanian triple jumpers African-American track and field athletes Hampton Lady Pirates track and field athletes Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for Panama World Athletics Championships athletes for Panama Competitors at the 2014 South American Games South American Games gold medalists for Panama South American Games medalists in athletics Athletes (track and field) at the 2007 Pan American Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2011 Pan American Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2015 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2011 Pan American Games Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States in athletics (track and field) Pan American Games silver medalists for the United States in athletics (track and field) 21st-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American women 20th-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American women Bolivarian Games silver medalists for Panama Bolivarian Games medalists in athletics NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships winners