Tonique Williams-Darling ( Williams; born January 17, 1976,

Nassau, Bahamas Nassau ( ) is the capital and largest city of the Bahamas. With a population of 274,400 as of 2016, or just over 70% of the entire population of the Bahamas, Nassau is commonly defined as a primate city, dwarfing all other towns in the country. ...

) is a Bahamian sprint

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 ...

. She won the gold medal in the

400 meters The 400 metres, or 400-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor running track, it is ...

at the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

Athens, Greece Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates a ...

College

She attended the University of South Carolina, graduating with a bachelor's degree from the

Moore School of Business The Darla Moore School of Business is the official business school of the University of South Carolina. Founded in 1919, the Moore School is located in Columbia, South Carolina and currently enrolls over 5,500 undergraduate and 800 graduate stu ...

in 1999.

Professional

Williams-Darling had a breakout year in 2004. She started with a

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 ...

at the

2004 IAAF World Indoor Championships The 10th IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) were held in the Budapest Arena, Hungary between March 5 and March 7, 2004. A total off 139 countries were r ...

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population o ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Cr ...

, running a personal best behind

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

Natalya Nazarova Natalya Viktorovna Nazarova (russian: Наталья Викторовна Назарова, born May 26, 1979, Moscow) is a track and field sprinter. She was born in Moscow. Following a personal best time of 49.65 seconds run a fortnight e ...

and Olesya Krasnomovets. Then in July, at the

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

meeting of 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, ...

, Tonique broke

Mexican Mexican may refer to: Mexico and its culture *Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America ** People *** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants *** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...

world champion 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, ...

Ana Guevara's 23 race winning streak in the 400 meter race. At the

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates a ...

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 ...

Williams-Darling beat Guevara again. In a head-to-head final straight, she proved to be more powerful than the Mexican runner who had been hampered with injuries and trained only on a limited basis prior to the Games. Winning the race, she became the Bahamas' first individual

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece bet ...

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 ...

ist. After the Olympics she secured the win in the overall Golden League-jackpot, cashing in US $500,000 after splitting the US $1M pot with

Christian Olsson Christian Olsson (born 25 January 1980) is a former Swedish athlete competing in high jump and triple jump. He won an Olympic gold medal, one gold and one silver medal in the World Championships and two gold medals in the European Championshi ...

. She also won the gold medal in the 400 meters at

2005 World Championships in Athletics The 10th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), were held in the Olympic Stadium, Helsinki, Finland (6 August 2005 – 14 August 2005), the site of the first IAAF ...

, in a head-to-head race with American 400-meter specialist Sanya Richards. At the

2006 Commonwealth Games The 2006 Commonwealth Games, officially the XVIII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Melbourne 2006 (Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm 2006'' or ''Naarm 2006''), was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth held ...

, despite being the favourite, she was beaten unexpectedly both in her semi-final and the final by

Christine Ohuruogu Christine Ijeoma Ohuruogu , MBE (born 17 May 1984) is a British former track and field athlete who specialised in the 400 metres, the event for which she is a former Olympic, World and Commonwealth champion. The Olympic champion in 2008, and ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

, claiming silver instead. Williams-Darling took the 2007 season off to nurse a hamstring injury and did not compete during the 2008 season. In November 2012, she was elected as Public Relations Director of the

Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations The Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations (BAAA) is the governing body for the sport of athletics in the Bahamas. Current president is Rosamunde Carey. She was elected on 28 November 2015 for the period 2015-2018. She becomes the fir ...

(BAAA) for the period 2012-2015. In 2015 Williams-Darling served as senior director of event media services for the BTC/IAAF World Relays in the Bahamas.

Personal Life

She graduated from St. John's College, Bahamas. She is married to fellow Bahamian Track and Field athlete Dennis Darling and is the sister-in-law of former NFL wide receiver

Devard Darling Devard Loran Darling (born April 16, 1982) is a former Bahamian-American wide receiver of American football. After playing college football at Florida State University and Washington State Cougars football, Washington State, he was drafted by the ...

Commemorations

In 2009 Williams-Darling was inducted into the University of South Carolina's Athletic Hall of Fame. For her achievements to date, the

Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to 88% of the a ...

Government honoured her by naming a major highway the Tonique Williams-Darling Highway.

References

External links

Caribbean Net News
- Surprise loss at the Commonwealth Games {{DEFAULTSORT:Williams-Darling, Tonique 1976 births Living people Sportspeople from Nassau, Bahamas Bahamian female sprinters South Carolina Gamecocks women's track and field athletes Olympic athletes of the Bahamas Olympic gold medalists for the Bahamas Athletes (track and field) at the 2000 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2006 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1999 Pan American Games Pan American Games competitors for the Bahamas Commonwealth Games silver medallists for the Bahamas Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics World Athletics Championships medalists Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field) IAAF Golden League winners World Athletics Indoor Championships medalists World Athletics Championships winners Olympic female sprinters