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Taylor, Brenda
- Qualified for 2004 U.S. Olympic Team with a second-place finish in record-setting 400m hurdle event at Trials.
- Bronze medalist in 4x400m relay at 2003 World Indoor Championships.
- 2001 NCAA Outdoor Champion in 400m hurdles.
- Earned bronze in 400m hurdles at 2001 and 2002 USA Outdoor Championships.
- Besides winning NCAA Championship in 2001, won 400m hurdles at Penn Relays, competed at World University Championships, and was awarded the Honda Cup as top women’s collegiate track & field athlete.
- During her four-year career at Harvard, won three Eastern College Athletic Conference titles, captured 23 individual/relay Heptagonal titles, and set or matched 10 school records.
- Graduated magna cum laude in 2001 with a pre-med degree in Honors Psychology/Biology (cognitive neuroscience); in future, hopes to study medicine with a focus on public health policy.
- Lives at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista and commutes to San Diego to train with coach Rahn Sheffield; together they have lowered her personal best by 2 seconds.
- Competed in gymnastics, volleyball, and swimming as a child, but didn’t try hurdles until ninth grade at Watauga High School; subsequently earned North Carolina state Junior Olympic hurdles title
- Her twin sister Lindsay, a former heptathlete at Brown University, now competes in pole vault and finished eighth at 2004 Trials.
After graduating from Harvard, Taylor entered an executive training program with the Gap. But when the company offered her a high-paying, permanent position, she turned it down in favor of dorm life at the Olympic Training Center. As she told the San Diego Union-Tribune, “I’m the type of person who needs to be fulfilled, and I knew I had something left to do in track and field. Money has never been a big deal to me. This is what I had to do. The way I see it, I really didn’t have a choice.”
Taylor on earning an Olympic berth: “This is really exciting since track and field was not my sport initially. Luckily, I was able to win an NCAA title to keep me in the sport.”
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Height: 5-8
Born: Feb. 9, 1979
Hometown: Boone, N.C.
Resides: Chula Vista, Calif.
Sport: Track & Field
Event: 400m hurdles
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