by Sam FarissIn her tenth column for RunBlogRun, Samantha Fariss wrote about a child hood hero, Sanya Richards-Ross and her development from a fine collegiate runner into an Olympic and World Champion gold medalist! Now, Sanya Richards-Ross has moved into announcing athletics on NBC-TV.
Sanya Richards-Ross, photo courtesy of Olympics.NBCsports.com
Run by Women, #10: Sanya Richards-Ross’ unending passion
By Sam Fariss
First appearing on the big stage of track and field while competing at the University of Texas at Austin, Sanya Richards-Ross – just Sanya Richards at the time – was quick to make a name for herself and quick to win her races.
Richards-Ross only competed in Austin for two seasons – including both indoor and outdoor of her freshman and sophomore years – but in that time, she was able to put together quite the collegiate resume.
She was a five-time NCAA Champion and 11-time All-American. She claimed individual titles in the 400 meters at the 2003 NCAA Outdoor and 2004 NCAA Indoor Championships and earned crowns in the 4×400 meter relay at the 2003 NCAA Indoor, 2003 NCAA Outdoor and 2004 NCAA Indoor Championships. And to this day, Richards-Ross is the University of Texas record holder in both the indoor and outdoor 400 meters.
As a young girl from Austin, I used to watch track and field meets at Mike A. Myers stadium with my dad. I would sit in awe as Richards-Ross whipped around the track at a speed that I had never thought to be possible.
She inspired me to at least attempt a track and field career through middle school and high school – except I found success in anything longer than one lap. As my career ‘ran its course,’I remember watching her professional success once she left UT in 2004.
She collected three Olympic Gold medals and five World Championships as she progressed through her professional career.
When she retired in 2015, just a year before the Rio Olympics, I thought I was going to witness the first Olympics that I could remember without Sanya Richards-Ross being a shining star for Team USA.
Richards-Ross wasn’t walking away from track and field quite yet though. In fact, the very Olympics that I feared she wouldn’t appear in, she had her first job with NBC Sports as one of the main track and field commentators for the network’s coverage of the games.
Since then, she has covered two Olympic games and has worked both the 2016 and 2020 USA track and field Olympic Trials for NBC. She may not be running laps around competitors anymore but her passion for the sport certainly has not dwindled.
