Queen Quedith Claye

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Harrison (born September 10, 1988) is an American

hurdler Hurdling is the act of jumping over an obstacle at a high speed or in a sprint. In the early 19th century, hurdlers ran at and jumped over each hurdle (sometimes known as 'burgles'), landing on both feet and checking their forward motion. Today ...

and sprinter who competed in the

400 metres hurdles The 400 metres hurdles is a track and field hurdling event. The event has been on the Summer Olympics, Olympic Sport of athletics, athletics programme since 1900 Summer Olympics, 1900 for men and since 1984 Summer Olympics, 1984 for women. On a ...

at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

. She was a six-time collegiate All-American at

Virginia Tech The Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, commonly referred to as Virginia Tech (VT), is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States ...

where she was elected to its sports hall of fame. Queen is a meet director for Virginia's Best Track and Field Classic -

VHSL The Virginia High School League (VHSL) is the principal sanctioning organization for interscholastic athletic competition among public high schools in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The VHSL first sponsored debate and also continues to sponsor st ...

meet hosted in

Richmond, Virginia Richmond ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. Incorporated in 1742, Richmond has been an independent city (United States), independent city since 1871. ...

started in 2017.

Career

Born in

Loch Sheldrake, New York Loch Sheldrake is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in the Town of Fallsburg, New York, United States, in Sullivan County. The zip code for Loch Sheldrake is 12759. The community was originally named Sheldrake Pond after a deep, glaci ...

, Harrison attended Hermitage High School in

, where she competed in events including hurdling,

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

, and

triple jump The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down the tr ...

. She went on to attend

. She set a school record of 55.81 in the 400 meter hurdles while placing third at the 2007 NCAA Championship. Harrison made

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

history in 2010 by becoming the first woman to ever win both the 100m and 400m hurdles titles at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. She also won the 60m hurdle title at the 2009 NCAA Indoor Championships making her a 3-time national champ while at Virginia Tech. Queen Harrison set an ACC record in the 400 meter hurdles. Harrison placed second at the 400 meter hurdles at 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials with a time of 54.60. Harrison became the first track and field athlete from

to compete at the Olympics. At the

, Harrison was eliminated in the 400 meter hurdles semifinals after finishing with a time of 55.88 seconds. On December 16, 2010, Queen Harrison won

The Bowerman The Bowerman is an annual track and field award that is the highest accolade given to the year's best student-athlete in American college athletics, collegiate track and field. It is named after Oregon Ducks track and field, Oregon track and field ...

, the "Heisman of Track and Field". 2011-06-09 Queen Harrison 400H

She qualified to the

2011 World Championships in Athletics The 13th IAAF World Championships in Athletics () was an international athletics competition that was held in Daegu, South Korea. It started on 27 August 2011 and finished on 4 September 2011. The United States topped the medal standings in the ...

, but did not make it out of the semi-final round. At the 2012 Olympic trials, she narrowly missed qualifying for the finals in the shorter

100 meters hurdles The 100 metres hurdles, or 100-meter hurdles, is a track and field event run mainly by women (the male counterpart is the 110 metres hurdles). For the race, ten hurdles of a height of are placed along a straight course of . The first hurdle is ...

. At 400 hurdles, was the slowest time qualifier into the semis-final round and ran even slower in that semi-final. Since 2012, her IAAF profile shows no results in the longer race. Instead she has focused her efforts into the shorter race. She finished second at the

2013 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships The 2013 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships was held at Drake Stadium in Des Moines, Iowa. Organised by USA Track and Field, the four-day competition took place June 20–23 in conjunction with the USA Junior Outdoor Track & Field Champion ...

setting her personal best at 12.43. That ranks her tied for the 16th best performer on the all-time list. That qualified her to the

2013 World Championships in Athletics The 14th IAAF World Championships in Athletics (Moscow 2013; ) was an international athletics (sport), athletics competition held in Moscow, Russia, from 10 to 18 August 2013. Initially, Russia at the 2013 World Championships in Athletics, Russia ...

in the new event. She finished fifth in the final. She placed fourth at the 2015 National Championships from which she was selected to compete at the

2015 Pan American Games The 2015 Pan American Games (), officially the XVII Pan American Games () and commonly known as the Toronto 2015 Pan-Am Games (Toronto 2015), were a major international multi-sport event celebrated in the tradition of the Pan American Games, ...

where she won the gold medal. Queen placed fourth in the 100 meter hurdles in 12.57 at the 2016 United States Olympic Trials (track and field) on July 8.

Personal life

Queen Quedith Clay nee Harrison was born in

, to William Harrison and Alicia Wingate, she is the 5th child of Alicia. Her siblings are named Goldin, Harrison, Victory, King Master, Princess, Empress, Muun, Zuequal, and Graceful. Queen has 14 half-siblings via her father. Queen was raised a member of The Nation of Gods and Earth, a sect of the Nation of Islam. Her father, William Harrison, served as a paratrooper, He spent 10 years in the Fort Dix federal correctional institution after being convicted of possession and intent to distribute 5 lbs of marijuana and 22 lbs of cocaine Her mother, Alicia Wingate, served 21 months after a 1998 conviction of Felony Withholding Information. Queen married fellow US athlete

Will Claye Will Claye (born June 13, 1991) is an American track and field athlete of Sierra Leonean descent who competes in the long jump and triple jump. He won a bronze medal in 2011 World Championships in Athletics and the gold medals at the 2012 IAAF W ...

in October 2018. Claye proposed immediately after winning the silver medal in the

at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.

References

External links

*
NBC Olympics Profile
from ''New York Times'' *
QUEEN HARRISON - ASICS TRACK ATHLETE
{{DEFAULTSORT:Claye, Queen 1988 births Living people American female hurdlers Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic track and field athletes for the United States Athletes (track and field) at the 2015 Pan American Games Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States in athletics (track and field) African-American track and field athletes Medalists at the 2015 Pan American Games People from Fallsburg, New York 21st-century African-American sportswomen 21st-century American sportswomen 20th-century African-American sportswomen 20th-century American sportswomen NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners Virginia Tech Hokies women's track and field athletes NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships winners Diamond League winners