Aries Merritt led in a U.S. one-two at the London Olympics 110-meter hurdles, and the gold medal winner, who got into hurdling by sheer chance, said it was a "dream come true."
Merritt took the gold in a personal best time of 12.92 seconds, .1 better than his compatriot Jason Richardson, who settled for silver. Jamaica's Hansle Parchment took the bronze.
"I've worked so hard for this moment and who knows if I'll ever get this chance again?" Merritt said. "It's a once-in-a-lifetime moment and I'm just kind of living it.
"I'm the champion. It still hasn't sunk in yet that I'm Olympic champion. I'm still in shock.
"I trained for this, very intensely. I was trying to treat this as much like a practise session as possible, where I have no pressure. The gold means everything. This is a dream come true."
That gold might never have materialized, but for a dare with a friend, that eventually converted him into the best hurdler in the world.
At the end of Merritt's freshman year at Wheeler High in Marietta, Ga., Reggie Witherspoon, 2008 Olympian and then teammate, challenged him to jump a fence before practice.
"It was just a random dare," Merritt recalled. "We got there kind of early from class. He said, 'I bet you won't jump that fence.' I was like, 'I can jump that fence.' He was like, 'Nah, you ain't jumping it. You ain't jumping it. 'I was like, 'All right.'"
What the duo did not realize was Merritt's high school coach Chad Walker was watching closely. "He was like, 'You're going to be a hurdler now," the 27-year-old said. "That's pretty much how it started."
People might question what might have been, though. First 2004 gold medal winner Liu Xiang of China pulled out due to an Achilles injury after the first heat; then defending champions Dayron Robles of Cuba clutched his right hamstring midway through the final, and failed to finish.
"You never want to think about falling or someone having a mistake," Merritt said. "You just want to focus on executing your race to the best of your ability because you can only control what you do. You can't control what anyone else does.
"I'm just happy that it's finally over. To be able to execute on the biggest stage in track and field is nothing short of amazing. I've proven myself, finally, on the biggest stage of my life. I can't be more thrilled."
Richardson was disappointed with the silver and felt he could have done better. "I feel like I lost that race," the 26-year-old said. "I don't feel like anybody is ever better. I don't train to believe that anybody is better.
"What I believe is that if I run a good race, a clean race, that I can come out on top, and I wasn't able to do that today. But I can say that I live to run another day. My feet are fine, so I can spike up and I can hurdle again.
"But I'm extremely blessed to say I made two teams and medalled twice," Richardson said. "I'm 2 for 2."
