Carmelita Jeter ( , born November 24, 1979) 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 ...

sprinter, who competed in the

60 metres 60 metres, or 60-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field. It is a championship event for indoor championships, normally dominated by the best outdoor 100 metres runners. At outdoor venues it is a rare distance, at least for senior ath ...

100 m 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1 ...

and

200 m 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 slight ...

. For over a decade, between 2009 and 2021, Jeter held the title as "Fastest woman alive" after running a 100 m personal best of 10.64 seconds at the 2009

Shanghai Golden Grand Prix The Diamond League Shanghai is an annual athletics event at the Shanghai Stadium in Shanghai, China as part of the Diamond League. The meeting was founded as the Shanghai Golden Grand Prix in 2005. The meet assumed its current name in 2010. From ...

. In the

100 m 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 ...

, she was the 2011 world champion and the 2012 silver medalist. She is also a three-time Olympic medallist. She won the 100 m

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids suc ...

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 ...

and a

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile ...

at the World Athletics Final. She won a second

World Championship 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, ...

bronze. Her personal best of 10.64 s makes her the fourth fastest woman ever in the 100 m, behind

Florence Griffith Joyner Florence Delorez Griffith Joyner (born Florence Delorez Griffith; December 21, 1959 – September 21, 1998), also known as Flo-Jo, was an American track and field athlete. She set world records in 1988 for the 100 m and 200 m. During the late 1 ...

's long-standing

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

, Elaine Thompson-Herah's 10.54 seconds and

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce OD, OJ (née Fraser; born December 27, 1986) is a Jamaican track and field sprinter competing in the 60 metres, 100 m and 200 m. She is widely regarded as one of the greatest sprinters of all time. On ...

's 10.60 seconds.

Early life

Jeter attended

Bishop Montgomery High School Bishop Montgomery High School (commonly referred to as "BMHS" or simply "Bishop" by students) is a Catholic high school serving twenty-five parishes in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles. BMHS was founded in 1957, and staffed by the S ...

Torrance, California Torrance is a city in the Los Angeles metropolitan area located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The city is part of what is known as the South Bay region of the metropolitan area. Torrance has of beachfront on the Pacific O ...

. Initially,

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

was the preferred sport in her family, and her younger brother, Eugene, later joined the

Sacramento Kings The Sacramento Kings are an American professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California. The Kings compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Conference Pacific Division. The Kings are the oldest ...

. Her basketball coach suggested that she try out track, and an 11.7-second run confirmed her natural talent for sprinting. Jeter graduated from

California State University, Dominguez Hills California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH, CSU Dominguez Hills, or Cal State Dominguez Hills) is a public university in Carson, California. It was founded in 1960 and is part of the California State University (CSU) system. In 2020, ...

, which is located in Carson, California, with a bachelor's degree in physical education. Jeter set the record for most

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 ...

medals by a CSUDH track athlete and became the university's first U.S. Olympic Trials qualifier. A recurring

hamstring In human anatomy, a hamstring () is any one of the three posterior thigh muscles in between the hip and the knee (from medial to lateral: semimembranosus, semitendinosus and biceps femoris). The hamstrings are susceptible to injury. In quadrupe ...

problem kept her out of competition for much of 2003–05, and it was not until 2007 that she made her first impact in senior

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 eve ...

athletics, having undergone treatment with deep tissue

massage Massage is the manipulation of the body's soft tissues. Massage techniques are commonly applied with hands, fingers, elbows, knees, forearms, feet or a device. The purpose of massage is generally for the treatment of body stress or pain. In E ...

International success

In 2007, Jeter won a

silver medal A silver medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, et ...

in the

60 meters 60 metres, or 60-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field. It is a championship event for indoor championships, normally dominated by the best outdoor 100 metres runners. At outdoor venues it is a rare distance, at least for senior ath ...

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 ...

with a personal best of 7.17 seconds, and she remained in good form, improving her 100 m best to 11.04 seconds to take fourth place in the 100 m 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 meeti ...

.Arcoleo, Laura (2009-09-13)
Jeter's rise continues, all the way to 10.67! – IAAF / VTB Bank World Athletics Final

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 fo ...

. Retrieved on 2009-09-17. Building upon this, she qualified for her first major competition by finishing third at the national championships behind

Torri Edwards Torri Edwards (born January 31, 1977) is an American sprinter. She competes in 100 and 200 meters, winning an Olympic medal in 4×100-meter relay in 2000. In 2003, she won six medals in major international competitions, including one World Ch ...

and Lauryn Williams. She went on to win the bronze medal at the

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, ...

in a personal best time of 11.02 seconds, as well as taking the 100 m gold at the 2007 World Athletics Final. The following year, she competed at the 100 and

U.S. Olympic trials. Although she set a 100 m best of 10.97 seconds in the quarter-finals, she did not progress beyond the semifinals, finishing just two hundredths out of the qualifying positions. A sixth-place finish in the 200 m meant she had not made the

2008 Summer 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 ...

team, despite being one of the favourites for selection. She qualified for the 100 and 200 m races at the

2008 World Athletics Final The 6th IAAF World Athletics Final was held at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Stuttgart, Germany on September 13 and September 14, 2008. A number of road races also took place on the second day of competition. There were seven different starting poin ...

, but only managed fourth and fifth place, respectively. She changed coach in November, deciding to work with John Smith, who had previously coached athletes such as Maurice Greene. Smith began completely remodelling Jeter's running style. In her 2009 season, she showed strong performances going into the

2009 World Championships in Athletics The 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics () were held in Berlin, Germany from 15–23 August 2009. The majority of events took place in the Olympiastadion, while the marathon and racewalking events started and finished at the Brandenburg ...

. She ran 7.11 seconds in the 60 m in the indoor season, the fastest by any athlete that year and a personal best. She remained in-form in her outdoor season, recording a fast 10.96 seconds 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, ...

, winning gold at the 2009 Nike

Prefontaine Classic The Prefontaine Classic, an Oregon Track Club event, is one of the premier track and field meets in the United States, held in Eugene, Oregon. Every year it draws a world caliber field to compete at Hayward Field on the campus of the Universi ...

, and taking her first national title at the 2009 U.S. Outdoor Championships. At the 2009 London Grand Prix, she placed first in the 100 m, clocking a personal best of 10.92; it was the third-fastest time at that point of the season, only slower than Jamaica's

Shelly-Ann Fraser Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce OD, OJ (née Fraser; born December 27, 1986) is a Jamaican track and field sprinter competing in the 60 metres, 100 m and 200 m. She is widely regarded as one of the greatest sprinters of all time. ...

and Kerron Stewart. A week prior to the start of the World Championships, Jeter was part of a United States

4 × 100 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 ...

team that ran the fastest women's sprint relay in twelve years. Lauryn Williams,

Allyson Felix Allyson Michelle Felix (born November 18, 1985) is a retired American track and field athlete who competed in the 100 meters, 200 meters and 400 meters. She specialized in the 200 meters from 2003 to 2013, then gradually shifted to the 400 mete ...

, Muna Lee, and Jeter finished with a time of 41.58 seconds, bringing them to eighth on the all-time list. 20090816-WK2009-Carmelita Jeter

At the

2009 World Athletics Championships The 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics () were held in Berlin, Germany from 15–23 August 2009. The majority of events took place in the Olympiastadion, while the marathon and racewalking events started and finished at the Brandenburg ...

, in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

, Jeter was one of the favorites for the gold medal as a 10.83-second personal best in the semis made her the fastest qualifier for the final. She ended up with her second World Championship bronze medal in the 100 m, however, finishing a tenth of a second behind Fraser and Stewart. The races after the championships proved more successful: she beat strong opposition in the

IAAF 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, ...

meets in Zurich and

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

with two sub-10.90 runs. Jeter was also selected to run as part of the US relay team as the anchor runner. However, in their heat, during the change over between Alexandria Anderson and Muna Lee, Lee horrifically injured her leg which caused elimination from the relay event.

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of Hispa ...

eventually claimed the gold medals. She entered the

2009 IAAF World Athletics Final The 7th IAAF World Athletics Final was held at the Kaftanzoglio Stadium in Thessaloniki, Greece on September 12 and September 13, 2009. The competition represented the culmination of the 2009 IAAF World Athletics Tour, a selection of athletics mee ...

having won her last three races by a significant margin. Even taking this into account, Jeter surprised with one of the highlights of the final edition of the

IAAF World Athletics Final The IAAF World Athletics Final was an annual track and field competition organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). It was inaugurated in 2003 to replace the IAAF Grand Prix Final. The competition was part of the ...

. She won the 100 m race in

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wi ...

with a time of 10.67, to become the third fastest woman in history and set a championship record. This was the fastest run in twelve years; a time which had only been bettered by

Marion Jones Marion Lois Jones (born October 12, 1975), also known as Marion Jones-Thompson, is an American former world champion track and field athlete and former professional basketball player. She won three gold medals and two bronze medals at the 2000 ...

and Florence Griffith-Joyner, and 0.16 seconds faster than Jeter had ever run before. She ran even faster a week later at the

, winning in 10.64 seconds (the fourth fastest time ever) to become the second fastest woman outright. Her fast times were a double-edged sword in that they brought as much suspicion as they did appreciation. At age 30, Jeter had improved her personal record by over a third of a second within a single season and she ranked between Jones and Griffith-Joyner in the all-time lists. Given the history of the women's sprints and speculation about

performance-enhancing drug Performance-enhancing substances, also known as performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs), are substances that are used to improve any form of activity performance in humans. A well-known example of cheating in sports involves doping in sport, where bann ...

use, Jeter said "I can't be upset about those questions utIt's unfortunate that I work this hard and I don't get the credit I should get". She improved her 60 m best to 7.02 seconds to win at the

. This was still slower than

LaVerne Jones-Ferrette LaVerne Janet Jones-Ferrette (born September 16, 1981) is a sprinter from the United States Virgin Islands who specializes in the 100 and 200 meters. She represented her country at the Summer Olympics in 2004, 2008 and 2012. She won the silver ...

, and Jeter resolved to improve further for the

2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships The 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics was held between 12 and 14 March at the Aspire Dome in Doha, Qatar. The championships was the first of six IAAF World Athletics Series events to take place in 2010. Bidding and organisation ...

. She retired in 2017 after injury prevented her from competing in the 2016 Olympics.

Personal bests

*All information from IAAF profile.

References

External links

* *
Carmelita Jeter officially names 4x100 world record "Breaking Point"
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Carmelita Jeter
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jeter, Carmelita 1979 births Living people Track and field athletes from Los Angeles American female sprinters African-American female track and field athletes Olympic gold medalists for the United States in track and field Olympic silver medalists for the United States in track and field Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in track and field Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics World Athletics Championships athletes for the United States World Athletics Championships medalists World Athletics Indoor Championships medalists World Athletics record holders (relay) California State University, Dominguez Hills alumni Diamond League winners USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners USA Indoor Track and Field Championships winners World Athletics Championships winners IAAF World Athletics Final winners Cal State Dominguez Hills Toros Olympic female sprinters 21st-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American women 20th-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American women