Brianna Rollins

Brianna Rollins-McNeal (born August 18, 1991), better known as Briana McNeal or Briana Rollins, is an American track and field athlete who specializes in the 100 metres hurdles. She is the 2016 Olympic champion and the 2013 World champion in the 100 metres hurdles. Her time of 12.26 ties her as the seventh-fastest 100 metre hurdler in history.

McNeal has been issued with two competition bans for anti-doping violations during her career. She served a one year ban in 2017 and is currently serving a five year set to run until August 2025.

Early life and junior career

McNeal was born in Miami, Florida, daughter of Temperance Rollins. She is the eldest of seven siblings and the only female. She is a 2009 graduate of Miami Northwestern Senior High School. Rollins competed for Clemson University and graduated in 2013, majoring in travel and tourism. At Clemson, McNeal was a three-time NCAA champion: winning the 60 metres hurdles in 2011 and 2013 and the 100 metres hurdles in 2013. She turned professional following the 2013 NCAA Outdoor Championships, where she broke the NCAA record in the 100 m hurdles with a time of 12.39.

Career

McNeal competed at the 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials, but did not make the Olympic team, finishing sixth in the 100 metres hurdles with a time of 12.94. The following month, at the 2012 NACAC Under-23 Championships, McNeal won gold in the 100 metres hurdles with a time of 12.60 (+4.5).

At the 2013 USA Track and Field Championships, McNeal won the 100 metres hurdles in an American record time of 12.26, bettering Gail Devers's previous record of 12.33 set in 2000. At the 2013 World Championships in Moscow, McNeal won the 100 metres hurdles with a time of 12.44, beating Olympic and reigning world champion Sally Pearson (12.50). In the final, McNeal had the slowest reaction time in the field (0.263), but was able to run down the field and win gold. For her performances in 2013, she was presented the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Athlete of the Year Award.

At the 2014 IAAF Diamond League, which consists of fourteen meetings from May to September, McNeal won one 100 metres hurdles race in Rome with a time of 12.53. At the 2014 USA Track and Field Championships, McNeal placed 5th in the 100 metres hurdles with a time of 12.81.

At the 2016 USA Indoor Track and Field Championships, McNeal won the 60 metres hurdles in 7.76 seconds. She finished second at 2016 IAAF World Indoor Championships in 60 m hurdles.

McNeal won in the 100 hurdles in a time of 12.34 at the 2016 United States Olympic Trials (track and field) ahead of Team USA teammates Kristi Castlin and Nia Ali to qualify to represent United States at Athletics at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Brazil. Not only did she win a gold medal, but her teammates placed second and third, making it the first time in history that one country gained all medals in this discipline at the Olympic Games, and the first time American women achieved such a sweep in any Olympic event.

In April 2017, McNeal was issued with a one-year ban backdated to December 2016 by the World Anti-Doping Agency after missing three drugs tests in 2016. In addition McNeal's results obtained on and subsequent to 27 September 2016 were disqualified and any medals, points, and prizes are forfeited.

McNeal finished third at the 2019 USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships in the 100 metres hurdles in a season's best time of 12.61, qualifying for the 2019 World Athletics Championships. She was disqualified from the 100 m hurdles after a false start in qualification during the Doha World Championships.

In January 2021, McNeal was suspended from competition by the Athletics Integrity Unit following a missed drug test in January 2020. She denied the allegations and claimed that she was innocent and clean. The Athletics Integrity Unit's Disciplinary Tribunal declared that she intentionally altered 3 medical notes without verifying the details with the clinic or anyone else "as a reasonable person would have done". In a striking admission, McNeal confessed to not having written the date down at all because it was firmly fixed in her mind. The Tribunal dismissed her defense.

In June 2021, she was banned for five years for "tampering with the anti-doping testing process" which would effectively make her ineligible to participate in both 2020 Summer Olympics and in the 2024 Summer Olympics. Her official ban is set to be completed in August 2025. McNeal was made eligible to take part in US national trials for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics while she appeal the suspension. However, as the disqualification was confirmed, the fourth place Gabbi Cunningham replaced McNeal. On 2 July 2021, the ban was upheld by Court of Arbitration for Sport. Following the upholding of the ban, McNeal commented on social media that the presence of "white European men" on the Panel may have led to a different consideration than if she was a "white woman, or a European".

Personal life

In 2017, she married Bryce McNeal in a ceremony in San Diego. The two met at Clemson where Bryce was part of the Tigers football team.

Competition record

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Rollins-McNeal, Brianna
1991 births
Living people
American female hurdlers
American female sprinters
World Athletics Championships athletes for the United States
World Athletics Championships medalists
Track and field athletes from Miami
Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics
Olympic gold medalists for the United States in track and field
Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics
Clemson Tigers women's track and field athletes
African-American track and field athletes
Olympic female hurdlers
Diamond League winners
USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners
USA Indoor Track and Field Championships winners
World Athletics Championships winners
21st-century American sportswomen
21st-century African-American sportswomen
NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners
NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships winners
Doping cases in athletics