Torri Edwards (born January 31, 1977)[2] is an American sprinter. She competes in 100 and 200 meters, winning an Olympic medal in 4×100-meter relay in 2000. In 2003, she won six medals in major international competitions, including one World Championship gold. Edwards competed in the 100 m at the 2008 Olympic Games.
Early career
Edwards states that she began sprinting when she joined her school team in junior high .[2] Edwards was an average sprinter when she attended Pomona High School, with her best state meet finish ever coming her senior year when she was fourth in the 200m. Edwards would then attend the University of Southern California.[3]
That track season, she won the Pac-10 titles in both the 100 m and 200 m for USC.[2]
She states:
Not until I got to college did I realize that I could be good,...Winning the Pac-10 titles gave me a big boost in confidence, and I found myself setting higher and higher goals.[2]
Doping ban
She was banned for two years effective from July 18, 2004, missing the 2004 Summer Olympics. In August 2004, Edwards appealed the ban, and an arbitration panel acknowledged that Edwards "conducted herself with honesty, integrity and character ... she has not sought to gain any improper advantage or to 'cheat' in any way."[4] In November 2005, her two-year ban was shortened to 15 months when the World Anti-Doping Agency downgraded nikethamide infractions to maximum one-year suspensions.[2] The drug had come from pills she had taken at a meet in Martinique to combat a minor illness. Though arbitrators decided Edwards had taken the drug inadvertently, saying in their ruling that she had conducted herself with "honesty, integrity and character," they did not overturn the suspension, because the glucose tablets given to her by her doctor contained a warning for athletes advising that the pills could cause a positive doping test.[2] Therefore, Edwards did not take performance enhancement drugs to improve her performance.[2][5]
However, since Edwards was a teammate of Marion Jones in the 2000 Olympic 4×100 meters relay, she was stripped of her medal following Jones's admission to using steroids during the games, though she and 6 other members of the 2000 team would successfully appeal this decision in July 2010.[6]
At the 2008 Olympic finals for the women's 100 meters, Edwards stated that she thought she had false started and apparently hesitated, believing that the officials were going to call a false start.
Edwards eventually finished eighth place with a time of 11.20, an under-par performance for the American sprinter, who has a best time of 10.78. Edwards states:
I thought I moved before the gun,...I kind of hesitated because I expected to hear a second gun. It threw me off a lot. It's pretty tough.
However, Edwards actually had a reaction time of 0.179 seconds, which was not the fastest or the slowest of the eight runners.[7] It is possible, therefore, that Edwards had not applied enough pressure on the blocks to trigger a false start warning, however she twitched her upper body, but possibly left her feet solid."[8]
Another disappointment came in the 4×100 m relay when the American team dropped the baton in the semi-final due to a misunderstanding between Edwards, on the top bend, and Lauryn Williams on the anchor leg. Williams picked up the baton to finish the race in last place, but the USA was disqualified because she had had to run out of her lane in order to retrieve the baton.
She worked seasons with the UK Kentucky Wildcats track and field programs from 2013 - 2015.
Coach Edwards served as an assistant coach in the Riverside Community College track and field program. While serving as an assistant at RCC, Edwards helped the men's track and field team capture conference and state titles in 2012 and 2013.
Edwards most recently worked as a volunteer assistant at Cal Poly Pomona the past two years (2012-2014). She helped Angela Garcia reach the NCAA Division IINational Championships in just her first collegiate season of track and field. Garcia also earned All-West Region honors for her work in the 100- and 200-meter events.[10] At the 2013 California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Track & Field Championships, CPP placed second on the men's side for the best finish since 2006 while the women finished third to mark the first top-three result in more than a decade. The two teams combined for six individual conference champions while 25 Broncos received All-CCAA honors.
