Clement: "I A1ways Believe in Myself"

Published by IAAF on November 16, 2016

Just what is it about 400m hurdlers and large spans of time between major global successes?

Back in 2000 Angelo Taylor snared the Olympic title in Sydney from the inside lane, only for the tall and gifted US athlete to regain the crown unexpectedly in Beijing eight years later.

Precisely the same time span bridged Felix Sanchez’s twin Olympic successes between the Athens and London Olympic Games. 

Meanwhile, this year, it was the turn of Kerron Clement to join the trend as his dazzling victory at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games ended a seven-year itch between his last global success, which came back at the 2009 IAAF World Championships in Berlin.

“I always believed in myself,” explains Clement, who celebrated his 31st birthday on Halloween. “It was hard after injury and surgery but I never lost focus. I knew one day I could return to the podium and I made up my mind 2016 was the year to do it.”