Sally Pearson

Hobbies

Watching movies. (athletics.org.au, 19 Feb 2006)

Occupation

Athlete

Family

Husband Kieran

Language(s) spoken

English

Club name

Gold Coast Victory, Gold Coast, QLD, AUS

Coach

Sharon Hannan from 1999 (sgvtribune.com, 05 Mar 2012)

Injuries

She suffered a quadriceps [thigh] muscle injury while competing at the Gippsland Gift in December 2011. She returned to competition in January 2012. (athletics.com.au, 13 Jan 2012)

She tore a disc in her back during the 2009 World Championships in Berlin, Germany. She returned to racing in June 2010. (smh.com.au, 03 Aug 2010; theaustralian.com.au,, 03 Aug 2010)

She suffered a stress fracture in her foot in 2002. (Athletics Australia, 07 Aug 2007)

Additional information

Start of sporting career
She began athletics as a young girl when her family moved from Sydney to the Gold Coast in Queensland. Her mother signed her up to an athletics club. (theaustralian.com.au, 03 Mar 2012)

Reason for taking up this sport
She was competing in the Queensland Little Athletics Championships in 1999, at age 12, when she was noticed by her coach Sharon Hannan who invited her to join her squad. (theaustralian.com.au, 03 Mar 2012)

Ambitions
Winning a gold medal at the 2012 Olympic Games in London. (sgvtribune.com, 05 Mar 2012)

Hero
Australian track athletes Cathy Freeman and Melinda Gainsford-Taylor. (Athletics Australia, 19 Feb 2006)

Most influential person in career
Her mother. (Athletics Australia, 09 Sep 2003)

Sporting philosophy / motto
"Whatever competition you go to, you are there because you deserve to be." (Queensland Academy of Sport, 07 Aug 2007)

Awards
She was named 2011 Female Athlete of the Year by the International Association of Athletics Federations [IAAF]. She is the first Australian to win the award. (smh.com.au, 13 Nov 2011)

She was named the Athletics Australia 2011 Female Athlete of the Year. (athletics.com.au, 18 Apr 2011)

She became the first athlete to win the 100m and 100m hurdles double in the history of the Australian Championships in March 2005. (athletics.org.au, 19 Feb 2006)

She won the 2003 World Youth 100m hurdles title and later in the year became the youngest athlete ever selected for an Australian team for a World Championships. She ran in the 4x100m heats in Paris at age 16. (Athletics Australia, 09 Sep 2003).

General
DELHI DISAPPOINTMENT
She was denied a gold medal in the 100m at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi after the England team protested that she had false started. Pearson and England's Laura Turner broke at the same time but originally only Turner was disqualified as it was ruled she had broken 0.001s before Pearson. Pearson finished the race first and was preparing for the medal ceremony when the English team protested that she should also be disqualified. The jury upheld the protest on the grounds that Pearson independently false started as well. The Australian team launched a counter-protest but it was thrown out. Pearson went on to win the 100m hurdles three days later. (sgvtribune.com, 05 Mar 2012)

MOTHER'S SUPPORT
She has worked for Bartercard, a trade exchange financial company in Australia. Her mother Anne, who raised Sally as a single parent, worked for the same company for over 10 years. "I was very lucky where I work that there was support, we used to have lots of drives, baking cakes and sponges, to raise money," Anne said. "I used to have a couple of jobs before the Commonwealth Games so Sally could have the massage and physio she needed every week." (bartercardetrader.com, 25 Oct 2010; dailytelegraph.com.au, 04 Sep 2011)

Previous Olympics

Beijing 2008