Veronica Campbell-Brown - Professional Career

Professional Career

Campbell-Brown ran at the 2000 Summer Olympics in the 4 x 100 m relay along with Tayna Lawrence, Beverly McDonald, Merlene Frazer and sprint veteran and Olympic legend, Merlene Ottey. They finished second in the finals in a time of 42.13 behind neighbours, Bahamas, which gave 18 year old Campbell-Brown her first Olympic medal.

At the 2004 Olympics, Campbell first placed third in the 100 m and two days later won the 200 m, beating out Allyson Felix of the United States. She later teamed up with Aleen Bailey, Tayna Lawrence, and Sherone Simpson to win the 4 x 100 m relay race.

In August 2005, Campbell won the silver medal in the 100 m at the 2005 World Championships in Athletics as well as another silver medal in the 4 x 100 m relay (together with Daniele Browning, Aleen Bailey and Sherone Simpson).

At the 2007 World Championships, Campbell won three medals with a gold in the 100 m, a silver in the 200 m (second to Felix) and a silver in the 4 x 100 m relay.

At the 2008 Jamaican Olympic trials, she finished fourth in the 100 m, thereby missing the qualifying requirement to automatically make the Jamaican Olympic roster for that event. She clocked 10.88 s in the final, which is the second fastest time ever for a fourth place finish. She however bounced back to take the 200 m final in a personal best of 21.94 s. Failing to qualify for the 100 m, she only competed in the 200 m and the 4 x 100 m relay at the Olympic Games. At the opening ceremony of the 2008 Olympics, Veronica Campbell-Brown carried the Jamaican flag during the Athletes' Parade. She successfully defended her Olympic 200 m title in a new personal best time of 21.74 s. She competed at the 4 x 100 m relay together with Shelly-Ann Fraser, Sheri-Ann Brooks and Aleen Bailey. In the first round heats, Jamaica placed first in front of Russia, Germany and China. The Jamaican teams' time of 42.24 s was the first time overall out of sixteen participating nations. With this result, Jamaica qualified for the final, replacing Brooks and Bailey with Sherone Simpson and Kerron Stewart. Jamaica did not finish the race due to a mistake in the baton exchange.

At the end of the 2008 season, Campbell-Brown was selected the top 200 m runner in the world as well as the fourth best in the 100 m (following three other Jamaicans) by Track and Field News. She also finished eighth overall in voting for the magazine's Woman of the Year.

She qualified for her third World Championships by winning the 200 m national title. She beat runners up Shelly Ann Fraser and Simone Facey with a time of 22.40 seconds in June 2009, although a toe injury had left her lacking full fitness. At the 2009 World Championships Campbell-Brown was fourth in the 100 m final behind teammates Fraser and Stewart. She then won her second World 200 m silver behind American Allyson Felix. She closed the season at the Shanghai Golden Grand Prix, recording her fastest of the year (10.89) to take second behind Carmelita Jeter, who became the second fastest ever with 10.64 seconds. Although she was beaten by Jeter, Campbell-Brown was the fourth fastest 100 m sprinter overall that season.

In 2010 she won her first World Indoor 60m Gold medal in a time of 7.00. She later went on to run the fastes time for the 200m in 21.98 in New York. She also ran a 10.78 in Eugene Oregon beating Fraser Pryce and jeter .

In 2011 Veronica Campbell-Brown won the Jamaican athletic trials in both the 100 & 200 m and was one of the favorites for both gold medals at the world championships in Daegu. At the championships she won the silver medal in the women's 100 m in 10.98 behind Jeter, who won in 10.90. She later went on to win her first 200 m world title in a timer of 22.22, beating Jeter and Felix who were second and third respectively.

In 2012 she defended her 60m World Indoor Gold medal where she won in a time of 7.01. Later in June Veronica qualified for the 2012 Olympic games in London in both the 100m and the 200m. In the 100m she came third behind Shelly Ann Fraser Pryce, who ran a Jamaican record of 10.70 and Carmelita Jeter. In the 4x100m relay final, she and Jamaican team came second behind the U.S. team who won the event with a new world record of 40.82.