David Oliver (born April 24, 1982), is a retired American

hurdling Hurdling is the act of jumping over an obstacle at a high speed or in a sprint. In the early 19th century, hurdlers ran at and jumped over each hurdle (sometimes known as 'burgles'), landing on both feet and checking their forward motion. Today, ...

athlete An athlete (also sportsman or sportswoman) is a person who competes in one or more sports that involve physical strength, speed, or endurance. Athletes may be professionals or amateurs. Most professional athletes have particularly well-de ...

. As a professional athlete, he competed in the 110 meter hurdles event outdoor and the 60 meter hurdles event indoors. He is the former 110 meter hurdles champion winning the gold 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, ...

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 million ...

in 2013 with a time of 13 seconds. He won the bronze medal in the

2008 Olympic Games 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 ...

and won another bronze at the 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships. He was the American record holder in the 110 meter hurdles. Oliver is a four-time U.S. Champion, having won indoor and outdoor titles in 2008, a second outdoor title at the 2010

USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships The USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships is an annual track and field competition organized by USA Track & Field, which serves as the American national championships for the sport. Since the year 1992, in the years which feature a Summer Oly ...

and third outdoor title at the 2011

. He also 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 be ...

at the 2008 IAAF World Athletics Final. He has a personal best of 12.89 seconds in the 110 m hurdles, placing him fifth on the all-time list at the time of his retirement from athletics at the end of the 2017 season (fourth at the time he ran it).

Career

College

Having been recruited from Denver (CO) East High School by

Howard University Howard University (Howard) is a Private university, private, University charter#Federal, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, classifie ...

's head coach, Michael Merritt, Oliver enjoyed his first successes on the

track Track or Tracks may refer to: Routes or imprints * Ancient trackway, any track or trail whose origin is lost in antiquity * Animal track, imprints left on surfaces that an animal walks across * Desire path, a line worn by people taking the shorte ...

in the

Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) is a collegiate athletic conference whose full members are historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in the Southeastern and the Mid-Atlantic United States. It participates in the National C ...

(MEAC). He won four consecutive outdoor MEAC

110 metres hurdles The 110 metres hurdles, or 110-metre hurdles, is a hurdling track and field event for men. It is included in the athletics programme at the Summer Olympic Games. The female counterpart is the 100 metres hurdles. As part of a racing event, ten hu ...

titles, from 2001–2004. He was also a MEAC indoor champion in the

55 metres hurdles 55 metres hurdles is a distance in hurdling, usually only run in indoor competitions. This is more commonly run at the high school level. The objective is to approach the first hurdle with 7 steps, each hurdle after that needs to have 3 step interv ...

, winning in 2003 in 7.34 seconds. 60 m h Doha 2010

Oliver received his first

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

n honor with a fourth-place finish at the 2003

NCAA Men's Outdoor Track and Field Championship The NCAA Men's Outdoor Track and Field Championship refers to one of three annual collegiate outdoor track and field competitions for men organised by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for athletes from institutions that make up ...

, running a personal record 13.60 seconds in the process, adding to a long history of Howard University's Track and Field

NCAA Division I-A The NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, is the highest level of college football in the United States. The FBS consists of the largest schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). As ...

All-Americans. This was Howard's most recent track and field All-American since Calvin Branch received the honor in 1989. The following year, he received a second All American honor, having taken fifth place at the

NCAA Men's Indoor Track and Field Championship The NCAA Men's Indoor Track and Field Championship refers to one of three annual collegiate indoor track and field competitions for men organised by the National Collegiate Athletic Association for athletes from institutions that make up its three ...

with a University record of 7.69 seconds in the

60 metres hurdles 60 metres hurdles is a distance in hurdling Hurdling is the act of jumping over an obstacle at a high speed or in a sprint. In the early 19th century, hurdlers ran at and jumped over each hurdle (sometimes known as 'burgles'), landing on both ...

. Later that season, he recorded an outdoor Howard University record of 13.55 seconds for the 110 m hurdles at the Georgia Tech Invitational in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,7 ...

. During his time at college, he also played wide receiver for the Howard Bison football team.David Oliver Biography

USATF USA Track & Field (USATF) is the United States national governing body for the sports of track and field, cross country running, road running and racewalking (known as the sport of athletics outside the US). The USATF was known between 1979 an ...

. Retrieved on June 29, 2010. Mostly playing on

special teams In American football, the specific role that a player takes on the field is referred to as their "position". Under the modern rules of American football, both teams are allowed 11 players on the field at one time and have "unlimited free substitu ...

, Oliver's physical abilities drew the attention of NFL teams. He was invited for try-outs with the

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team p ...

and

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansi ...

Professional

After leaving college, he pursued track and field professionally. In 2006, he won at the Internationales Stadionfest

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, ...

meet 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 ...

and finished fifth at that year's World Athletics Final. At the 2008

Penn Relays The Penn Relays (also Penn Relays Carnival) is the oldest and largest track and field competition in the United States, hosted annually since April 21, 1895 by the University of Pennsylvania at Franklin Field in Philadelphia. In 2012, there were ...

, Oliver completed the fastest 4×120 yd shuttle hurdle relays of all-time with teammates

Aubrey Herring Aubrey Herring (born September 19, 1978) is an American track and field athlete. Herring was born in Oklahoma and moved to Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1994 where he attended Warren Central High School and graduated in 1996. Herring was the 1996 Ind ...

Joel Brown Joel Brown (born January 31, 1980, in Baltimore, Maryland) is an American hurdler. He finished sixth at the 2005 World Championships and seventh at the 2005 World Athletics Final. Comprises 1/4 of the World Record Shuttle Hurdle Relay team (Aub ...

Aries Merritt Aries Merritt (born July 24, 1985) is an American track and field athlete who specializes in the 110 metre hurdles, and currently holds the world record in that event with a time of 12.80 s set on September 7, 2012. He won the gold medal i ...

, finishing the rarely contested event in a record time of 53.31 seconds. In 2007, he was second 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 ...

after winning at the Tyson Invitational. Outdoors, he improved his personal best to 13.14 seconds, finishing runner-up at the

Qatar Athletic Super Grand Prix The Doha Diamond League is an annual one-day track and field meeting held at the Suheim bin Hamad Stadium in Doha, Qatar. It is part of the Diamond League – the top level international circuit for the sport. It is typically held in May as th ...

, and was third at the

. This meant he qualified for 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 he almost reached the final, being knocked out of the semi-finals after finishing fourth in his race. RoblesBeijing

In 2008 Oliver won his first national title in the 60 m hurdles. At the

2008 IAAF World Indoor Championships The 2008 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics were held at the Luis Puig Palace in Valencia, Spain, March 7–9, 2008. Bid Valencia was announced the winning bidder by the IAAF on November 13, 2005 at an IAAF Council meeting in Moscow, Rus ...

, he was knocked out in the semi-finals stage. Later in the year, he ran a personal best of 12.95 seconds at the Qatar Grand Prix. He ran a wind-assisted 12.89 seconds in the semi-finals of the United States Olympic Trials and went on to beat Olympic and world silver medalist

Terrence Trammell Terrence Trammell (born November 23, 1978) is a retired American track and field athlete who was the silver medalist for the 110 meter hurdles at the 2000 and 2004 Summer Olympics, and three time silver medalist for the World Championships. He w ...

in the final with another windy run of 12.95 seconds. Oliver went on to claim the

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 receiv ...

in the 110 m hurdles 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 ...

, finishing behind

Dayron Robles Dayron Robles (born 19 November 1986) is a Cuban track and field athlete who specialises in the 110 metre hurdles. He won his first major medal (a silver) in the 60 metres hurdles at the 2006 World Indoor Championships. He finished the 2006 seas ...

who set an

Olympic record Olympic records are the best performances in a specific event in that event's history in either the Summer Olympic Games or the Winter Olympic Games, including: * Archery (list) * Alpine skiing (records recognized only by FIS) * Athletics (list) ...

and compatriot David Payne. He closed the year with victories at the ISTAF meet in Berlin and at the 2008 IAAF World Athletics Final. He was the second fastest 110 m hurdler of 2008. The 2009 season started promisingly for Oliver, as he recorded 13.09 seconds for his third win in Qatar, but a calf strain resulted in him missing the US Outdoor Championships, and thus the opportunity to qualify for 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 ...

. Oliver started the 2010 outdoor season with four straight wins over other competitors, among them victories at the Ponce Grand Prix, and the Colorful Daegu Pre-Championships Meeting over Dayron Robles. He scored his first

IAAF Diamond League The Diamond League is an annual series of elite track and field athletic competitions comprising fourteen of the best invitational athletics meetings. The series sits in the top tier of the World Athletics (formerly known as the IAAF) one-day mee ...

win at the

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 May, beating home favorite Liu Xiang with a meeting record of 12.99 seconds. The following month he set a new personal best of 12.93 seconds to win his second national title at the USA Championships. Oliver improved on his personal best in the 110 m hurdles on July 3, 2010, with a time of 12.90 seconds, equalling the area and national record held by

Dominique Arnold Dominique Arnold (born September 14, 1973, in Compton, California) is an American hurdling athlete. He is tied for being the fifth fastest all-time 110 m hurdler, with a time of 12.90 s (+1.1 m/s), which was the American record from 2 ...

. On July 16, 2010, Oliver ran 12.89 for the 110 m hurdles, which was the third fastest time ever at that point (after

and Liu Xiang). Additionally, he moved up to number six on the all-time lists in the 60 m hurdles with a win at the Sparkassen Cup, where his personal best of 7.37 seconds also brought him his first ever indoor victory over Dayron Robles. By the time 2010 came to an end, Oliver was unbeaten in 15 finals races and held the top five times and eight of the top nine times in the world.

2011 saw Oliver, during the outdoor season, win another U.S. Championship title and run under the 13 second barrier again. Indoor he produced his career best 7.37, just 0.01 off the American record. He finished the season ranked #3 in the world. 2013, Oliver was able to bounce back from back to back injury plagued seasons and he was able to win his first global title, winning the World Championships in 13.00 in Moscow, Russia. He also won his second IAAF Diamond League title.

Retirement from Athletics

At the end of the 2017 season, Oliver announced his retirement from athletics. He was subsequently appointed head of the track and field program at his alma mater,

Personal life

His mother, Brenda Chambers, also competed in

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 ...

in the

400 m hurdles The 400 metres hurdles is a track and field hurdling event. The event has been on the Olympic athletics programme since 1900 for men and since 1984 for women. On a standard outdoor track, 400 metres is the length of the inside lane, once a ...

event. He graduated from

Denver East High School East High School is a historical public high school located in the City Park neighborhood on the east side of Denver, Colorado, United States. It is part of the Denver Public Schools system, and is one of four original high schools in Denver. Th ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the ...

, in 2000. He lives in

Kissimmee Kissimmee ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Osceola County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 79,226. It is a Principal City of the Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, Florida, Metropolitan Statistical Area, wh ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...

and is trained by Aubrey Herring. He as well was formally coached by Brooks Johnson. He graduated from Howard University in 2004 with a

Bachelor of Business Administration Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) is a bachelor's degree in business administration awarded by colleges and universities after completion of undergraduate study in the fundamentals of business administration and usually including advanced ...

Marketing Marketing is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services; potentially including selection of a target audience; selection of certain attributes or themes to emph ...

. Oliver is also a supporter of English football team Arsenal Football Club.

Personal bests

Competition record

*National outdoor championships – Winner: 2008, 2010, 2011, 2015. Runner-up: 2013 *National indoor championships – Winner: 2008. Runner-up: 2010.

Rankings

Oliver was ranked among the best in the US and the world in the 110m hurdles from 2005 to 2016, 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. The magazine provides coverage of athletics in the United States from the high ...

''.

Achievements and Accolades

In 2014, Oliver was elected to the Howard University Hall of Fame.

References

External links

* * *
Stuttgart 2006 was David Oliver’s ‘step forward’
– article from

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 ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Oliver, David 1982 births Living people American male hurdlers African-American male track and field athletes Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in track and field Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Howard University alumni Howard Bison football players Athletes (track and field) at the 2015 Pan American Games World Athletics Championships athletes for the United States World Athletics Championships medalists Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States Pan American Games medalists in athletics (track and field) Diamond League winners USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners IAAF Continental Cup winners World Athletics Championships winners Medalists at the 2015 Pan American Games 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American people