This year is a huge year for sports. In Rio the Olympics will be held and athletes from around the world will be heading there to showcase their talents against others in various sports. This is the grandfather of sports because this only happens every four years in different locations around the world. The prestigious medals that an athlete can win sets them apart from their peers.
Let’s take a closer look at one of these athletes who has started, this is their last Olympic games. Sanya Richards-Ross is a Jamaican born athlete on the track and field team. She started running track at the age of seven and she didn’t gain any popularity until 2002 when she won Athlete of the year in track and field and this was the same year she became a United States citizen. She attended the University of Texas, where she won the national championship in 2003 in the 400 meters. She also won gold in the 4×400 meter replay in the world games. She later on turned professional and was a part of the United States Olympic team for the 2004 Olympic games in Athens.
In these games she came in 6th place 4×400 meter relay. She did not participate in any other races and left the Olympics with getting a medal. In 2008, Richards-Ross qualified for the Olympics, which was being held in Beijing, China. She was the favorite to win the gold medal along with her teammate Alison Felix due to them having the fastest time at Olympic qualifiers. In the 4×400 meter relay race, Ross went out of the blocks early and didn’t finish first, she ended up finishing in 3rd which gave her a bronze medal. After those Olympics sponsorships and shoe deals came in galore for her. She has a shoe deal with Nike and she is also sponsored by BMW, Nutrilite, Citibank, BP and BMW. You can see her in ads and commercials for these company’s and she also makes guest appearances to promote her brand and signature winning one-legged stance.
In 2012, she qualified for the London Olympic games and Sanya finished the women’s 400m in 49.55 to win the gold medal for the US [4th]. She also ran the anchor leg of the gold medal-winning US women’s 4 × 400 m relay team over Jamaica [5th]. Following the Olympics, Richards-Ross won the remaining Diamond League meetings over 400m in Stockholm (49.89) and Zurich (50.21). The win in Stockholm improved her career total of sub-50 second races to an unchallenged 46. In 2016, Sanya qualified for the Rio Olympics, but on July, 1st 2016, she suffered a hamstring injury that has ended her career early and on a sour note. She did announce that at the end of this year she was going to retire, but she wanted to attempt to win one more gold medal. Her fans around the world were sad to see her career end this way, but she still had a great career and will one day be inducted into the track and field hall of fame.
In her personal life, Sanya is married to former New York Giants draft pick, Aaron Ross. They use to have a reality television show together where they followed them around town as they promoted their businesses and their brands. Aaron Ross no longer plays in the NFL, but he did pick up coaching his wife and being her athletic trainer. She owns her own hair extension line and a salon with her sister in Austin, Texas called The Hair Clinic.
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