Christine Sonali Merrill
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Christine Sonali Merrill, also simply known as Christine Merill (born August 20, 1987), is a former Sri Lankan–American track and field athlete and mechanical engineer. During her career, she specialized in the 400m hurdles event and also occasionally competed in 100m, 200m, 100m hurdles, 4 × 100m relay and 4 × 400m relay events.


Career

Born in Bakersfield, California), Merrill joined
University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego is t ...
for her higher education after graduating from the
Bakersfield Christian High School Bakersfield Christian High School (BCHS) is a private school, private, college-preparatory, nondenominational Christian school. It is fully accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges and the Association of Christian Schools Int ...
. She decided to focus solely on pursuing degree in
mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, an ...
at the
Jacobs School of Engineering Jacobs may refer to: Businesses and organisations * Jacob's, a brand name for several lines of biscuits and crackers in Ireland and the UK *Jacobs (coffee), a brand of coffee *Jacobs Aircraft Engine Company, former American aircraft engine compan ...
attached to the University of California after realising that the university do not offer athletic scholarships. Her opportunity to pursue her career in athletics was also hampered after sustaining a knee injury after playing a domestic basketball match. However, she joined the Tritons track and field team during her second year at the University of California. She took part in university competitions such as Central Section track and field Masters meet. She won eight All-American honours for the university, and won the
NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is an intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environmen ...
women's 400m hurdles title in 2009. She graduated from the University of California, San Diego in 2010 with a Major degree in mechanical engineering. After completing her higher studies, she pursued her career as an engineer in San Diego for a solar turbine company. She also continued her passion towards her athletic career while also being employed as an engineer at the solar turbine company in customer design division. She also served as a member of Movin Shoes Elite Athletic Development Program, an initiative which provides support to past collegiate track and field athletes in San Diego area. She gained her first international experience representing Sri Lanka in 2011 when she won the bronze medal in the women's 400m hurdles just behind
Satomi Kubokura is a Japanese track and field athlete who competes in the 200 metres, the 400 metres and the 400 m hurdles. Her personal bests are 24.32 in the 200 m achieved at Kobe on April 27, 2008; 38.12 in the 300 metres at Izumo on April 22, 2007; 53.08 ...
of Japan and Yang Qi of China at the
2011 Asian Athletics Championships The 19th Asian Athletics Championships were held in Kobe, Japan between July 7–10, 2011 at the Kobe Universiade Memorial Stadium. The tournament had 507 athletes from forty Asian nations competing in the 42 track and field events over the fou ...
in Kobe after completing it in 57.30 seconds. She also competed in the women's 400m hurdles at the
2011 Athletics World Championships The 13th IAAF World Championships in Athletics () was an international athletics competition that was held in Daegu, South Korea. It started on 27 August 2011 and finished on 4 September 2011. The United States topped the medal standings in th ...
in Daegu and was eliminated in the heats after finishing the event at 27th place with a timing 57.05 seconds. In July 2011, she was the only Sri Lankan athlete to hold an IAAF ranking. She spent her own money which she earned from working as an engineer in order to compete at the pre-Olympic meets in
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 His ...
and in
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prior to 2012 Olympics. She narrowly missed out on a bronze medal at the Jamaican Championships which was held in Kingston where she recorded a timing of 57.89 seconds. In May 2012, she claimed a bronze medal at the Bangkok Asian Grand Prix with a timing of 58.20 seconds and also secured fourth place at the Kanchanaburi Asian Grand Prix. She made her maiden Olympics appearance representing
Sri Lanka at the 2012 Summer Olympics Sri Lanka participated at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, which was held from 27 July to 12 August 2012. The country's participation at London marked its sixteenth appearance in the Summer Olympics since its debut at the 1948 Summer Olympics, ...
. In July 2012, she received a wild card entry to compete at the 2012 Summer Olympics after failing to meet direct qualification criteria. She was also the only female track and field athlete from Sri Lanka to compete at the 2012 Olympics and was just one of two track and field athletes from Sri Lanka to represent the county at the London Olympics alongside
Anuradha Cooray Anuradha Indrajith Cooray (born March 24, 1978) is a Sri Lankan marathon runner. Cooray was a competitor at the 2004 Olympic games, finishing 30th out of 113 in the marathon with a time of 2:19:24. He won the gold medal in the marathon at the SAF ...
. She took part in the women's 400m hurdles at the 2012 London Olympics and was placed at 30th position and was eliminated in the first round, though she broke her own seasonal record with 57.15 seconds. She was persuaded by the then President of Athletic Association of Sri Lanka Major General Palitha Fernando to represent Sri Lanka at the 2012 Olympics and she qualified to represent
Sri Lanka at the Olympics Sri Lanka first participated at the Olympic Games in 1948, and has sent a delegation to every Summer Olympic Games except for the ` 1976 Games and has never participated in the Winter Olympic Games. Sri Lankan athletes have won a total of two Ol ...
through her mother. She also received media attention from viewers and became an
internet sensation Social and cultural phenomena specific to the Internet include Internet memes, such as popular themes, catchphrases, images, viral videos, and jokes. When such fads and sensations occur online, they tend to grow rapidly and become more widesp ...
when she was lined up as part of Sri Lankan contingent during the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics. She was also included in a list of most attractive Olympic athletes of all time. She was also dubbed as an "Accidental Olympian" by the San Diego Union-Tribune. Christine also became the first UC San Diego's first track and field athlete to compete at the Olympics and became the third Olympian from Bakersfield to participate at the Olympics after
Jimmy Watkins James David Watkins (born August 26, 1982) is an American track cyclist. At the 2012 Summer Olympics, he competed in the Men's sprint, where he reached the quarterfinals, and sealed a sixth-place ranking in the final classification race. Person ...
and
Jake Varner Jacob Stephen "Jake" Varner (born March 24, 1986) is an American wrestler. Varner won the gold medal in the 96 kg category at the 2012 Summer Olympics in freestyle wrestling. Varner wrestled collegiately for the Iowa State University Cyc ...
. Her personal best of 56.45 which she set in
Chula Vista Chula Vista (; ) is the second-largest city in the San Diego metropolitan area, the seventh largest city in Southern California, the fifteenth largest city in the state of California, and the 78th-largest city in the United States. The popu ...
also ranks as the national record of Sri Lanka. She finished fourth in the women's hurdles event at the
2013 Asian Athletics Championships The 2013 Asian Athletics Championships were the 20th edition of the biennial athletics competition between Asian nations. It was held at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Balewadi, Pune, India between 3–7 July. Around 522 athletes f ...
in
Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, ( the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million As of 2021, Pune Metropolitan Region is the largest i ...
with a timing of 59.72 seconds and followed it up with fifth place finish as part of the Sri Lankan team in the women's 4 x 400 meter relay with a timing of 3: 39.54 minutes. She also competed in the 400m hurdles at the 2013 World Championships in
Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...
, but was disqualified in the preliminary round. She also represented Sri Lanka at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in
Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
which also marked her maiden appearance at the
Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...
. During the 2014 Commonwealth Games, she was eliminated with a timing of 58.65 seconds in the first round. In 2014, she competed in her last competition in San Marcos and then ended her career as a track and field athlete at the age of 27.


Biography

She was born to Sri Lankan mother Neloufa Merill and American father Alex Merill in Bakersfield,
California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
in the USA. Her parents were pediatricians and both met each other for the first time during residency. She has one elder sister and three young siblings. Her grandfather Terrence Isaac Perera was an engineer.


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Merrill, Christine Sonali Living people 1987 births Sri Lankan female hurdlers American female hurdlers Sri Lankan women engineers American women engineers Olympic athletes of Sri Lanka Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games competitors for Sri Lanka Athletes (track and field) at the 2014 Commonwealth Games World Athletics Championships athletes for Sri Lanka American people of Sri Lankan descent University of California alumni Track and field athletes from California Sportspeople from Bakersfield, California 21st-century American women