Dawn Harper had a very good shot at defending her gold medal at the 2012 Olympic Games. Harper finished in first at Beijing with the race of her life, clocking in a time of 12.54 seconds to grab the gold medal away from Lolo Jones, who stumbled and finished 7th.
Harper was definitely the best hope for the three Americans. She and Jones both returned to the finals of the event, as well as Kellie Wells. And Harper looked good out of the blocks as she cleared the hurdles. But it was Sally Pearson out of Australia running the race of her life who ended up with Olympic gold, winning in style by just edging out Harper at the line. Pearson finished with a time of 12.35 seconds, Harper 12.37. The United States actually went 2-3-4 in this race, with Wells going third, Jones 4th.
Harper now has a gold and a silver medal in back-to-back games. Not at all a bad haul for UCLA.
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