Andrea Arlene Anderson (born September 17, 1977) 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 best remembered for winning a gold medal on the

4 x 400 meters 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

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. She ran in the preliminaries and semi-finals. Anderson subsequently had to return her medal along with the rest of the team after Marion Jones was disqualified following her admission to using performance-enhancing drugs. On July 16, 2010, the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled in favor of the other American teammates and returned the medals. Anderson has had rare success at both long sprints and short sprint races. She ran in high school for

Long Beach Polytechnic High School Long Beach Polytechnic High School, founded in 1895 as Long Beach High School, is a four-year public high school located at 1600 Atlantic Avenue in Long Beach, California, United States. The school serves portions of Long Beach, including Bixby ...

, joining Aminah Haddad to make for a powerful 1-2 sprinting punch. The two finished just behind Jones in both the 1992 and 1993

CIF California State Meet The CIF California State Meet is the annual championship track and field meet for the California Interscholastic Federation. The meet was started in 1915 for boys and 1974 for girls. Every athlete in every high school in California has a direc ...

100 metres The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been conteste ...

and

200 metres The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slightl ...

, while teaming up on the 4 x 100 metres relay team that won the state title in 1993 and the 4 x 400 metres relay that won three straight championships 1991 to 1993. She ran collegiately at the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

(UCLA) under

Bob Kersee Bob Kersee (born in the Canal Zone, Panama) is an American track coach. He was the coach and husband of Olympic gold medallist Jackie Joyner-Kersee. Career He is a graduate of San Pedro High School, Los Angeles Harbor College where he was a state ...

. Running for UCLA, she won the

Pac-10 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

championships at

in 1997,

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 ...

in 1998 and 1999. Her 4 × 100 m relay team finished as high as 3rd at the NCAA Women's Outdoor Track and Field Championship in 1998 and the 4 × 400 m relay team finished 2nd in 1999. At the 1995 Pan American Junior Games, she ran on the winning 4 × 100 m relay and the silver medal-winning 4 × 400 m relay. The following year at the

1996 World Junior Championships in Athletics The 1996 World Junior Championships in Athletics were held in Sydney, Australia on August 20–25. Results Men Women Medal table Participation According to an unofficial count through an unofficial result list, 1049 athletes from 142 cou ...

she got a preview of the Sydney track while winning a gold medal on the USA 4 × 100 m relay and taking an individual silver medal in the

, setting her lifetime PR of 11.43. In 1997 she was on the winning 4 × 100 m relay at the

World University Games The Universiade is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The name is a portmanteau of the words "University" and "Olympiad". The Universiade is referred t ...

. In 1999, she ran on the 4 × 400 m relay team that took the silver medal 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 ...

. In 2000, at the US Olympic Trials, she ran her personal best of 51.18 in the 400 to make the team. Earlier that season she also set her personal record in the 200 metres of 23.44 at the

Modesto Relays The Modesto Relays, now known as the California Invitational Relays is an annual elite track and field meet. It is held about the second weekend in May. For 67 years, the meet was held at Modesto Junior College in Modesto, California, a track nota ...

. She is the older sister of football's

Marques Anderson Marques Deon Anderson (born May 26, 1979) is a former American football safety in the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Green Bay Packers in the third round of the 2002 NFL Draft. Anderson also played for the Oakland Raiders, ...

References

External links

*
USATF bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, Andrea 1977 births Living people American female sprinters Athletes (track and field) at the 2000 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the United States in track and field Athletes (track and field) at the 1999 Pan American Games UCLA Bruins women's track and field athletes Track and field athletes from Long Beach, California Track and field athletes from Los Angeles Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Pan American Games silver medalists for the United States People from Harbor City, Los Angeles Pan American Games medalists in athletics (track and field) Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) Universiade gold medalists for the United States Medalists at the 1997 Summer Universiade Medalists at the 1999 Pan American Games Olympic female sprinters Long Beach Polytechnic High School alumni