Lopes-Schliep Wins First Olympic Medal

Beijing ? Priscilla Lopes-Schliep earned her first Olympic medal on Tuesday night (9:30 a.m. Central) at the Bird’s Nest in Beijing with a third-place finish in the women’s 100-meter hurdles. The former collegiate national champion and eight-time All-American for the Big Red was in the pack until a final push propelled her to a time of 12.64 and the bronze medal.<?xml:namespace prefix="o" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"?>

“I feel like I've jumped out of my body, went to heaven and back," Lopes-Schliep said. "This is a huge accomplishment. It went by so fast and here I am with a medal."

Lopes-Schliep and silver medalist Sally McLellan of Australia each ran 12.64, with officials having to go the one-thousandth of a second to break the tie. The gold medal was taken by Dawn Harper of the United States, who posted a personal-best time of 12.54.

Following a strong outdoor season that included a win in late July at the DN Galan Super Grand Prix in Sweden over Lolo Jones and McLellan, Lopes-Schliep was bubbling with confidence entering Tuesday’s final.

"Anything can happen," Lopes-Schliep said. "I've raced against these girls plenty of times and I know they are beatable.”

One of those athletes she was alluding to was Jones, a Des Moines, Iowa, native and the race favorite. Jones set a personal best in the semifinals at 12.43, and had the gold in sight until she stumbled at the last hurdle and dropped to seventh and finished with a time of 12.72.

Lopes-Schliep started the 2008 Games with a time of 12.75 in the preliminaries on Sunday, and then improved to a time of 12.68 in the semifinals on Monday. The two-time Olympian has made great strides since her first Games in 2004 in Athens, when she unable to advance past the preliminaries.

“We were all huddled around the computer watching her run,” assistant track and field coach Matt Martin said. Martin was Lopes-Schliep’s position coach at Nebraska.

“Priscilla has always represented Nebraska well. It was an honor to coach her and we are all very proud of her.”

With her trip to the 2004 and 2008 Games, Lopes-Schliep was the first Husker in Nebraska’s storied history of track and field on women’s side to make a trip to the Olympics in the hurdles. With her finish on Tuesday, she is the first Husker on the men’s or women’s side to win an Olympic medal in the hurdles.

Going back to the 1968 Games in Mexico City, the Huskers have had at least one current or former athlete win an Olympic medal in track and field at every Olympic Games except the 1972 (Munich), 1988 (Seoul) and 2004 (Athens) Games.

It was the first track and field medal for Canada since the 1996 Olympics Games in Atlanta, when Donovan Bailey won the 100-meter gold and was part of the 4x100 relay win.