Regina George Grause (born 17 February 1991 in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

) is an

America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

n-born

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

n sprinter who specializes in the

400 metres The 400 metres, or 400-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor running track, it is ...

. She represented Nigeria at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

and was the silver medallist at the African Championships in 2012.

Personal

Her father Phillips is Nigerian, and moved to the US on an athletic scholarship. Her paternal grandfather was from

Onitsha Onitsha ( or simply ''Ọ̀nị̀chà'') is a city on the eastern bank of the Niger River, in Anambra State, Nigeria. Onitsha along with various cities and towns in southern Anambra State, northern Imo State and neighboring Delta State on the we ...

while her grandmother is from

Rivers State Rivers is a states of Nigeria, state in the Niger Delta region of southern Nigeria (Old Eastern Region). Formed on 27 May 1967, when it was split from the former Eastern Region, Nigeria, Eastern Region, Rivers State borders include Imo State, Im ...

, Nigeria. Her mother is a former Venezuelan 400 m athlete, Florencia Chilberry. George's parents were both scholarship track and field athletes at

Wichita State University Wichita State University (WSU) is a public research university in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It is governed by the Kansas Board of Regents. The university offers more than 60 undergraduate degree programs in more than 200 areas of study in ...

. George competed in

Chicago Park District The Chicago Park District is one of the oldest and the largest park districts in the United States. As of 2016, there are over 600 parks included in the Chicago Park District as well as 27 beaches, 10 boat docking harbors, two botanic conservat ...

meets as a child and ran a mile in 6:13 when she was nine years old. She has one older sibling and three younger siblings. In 2014, she and

Inika McPherson Inika McPherson (born September 29, 1986, in Port Arthur, Texas) is an American track and field athlete specializing in the high jump. She was the 2013 US Indoor champion. During her career, McPherson has been issued with two, separate anti-dop ...

announced on social media that they are in a relationship.

Career

As a junior athlete, George represented the United States at the 2010 World Junior Championships. She placed seventh in the 400 m final. She later anchored the United States 4 × 400 m team to a gold medal ahead of the Nigerian team which placed second. At this championship meet, George expressed her desire to run for Nigeria (whose team finished a half second behind her for the silver medal) to the Nigerian coach, Gabriel Okon. She began to compete for Nigeria in 2012, ahead of the African Championships and London Olympics. As a collegiate athlete for the

University of Arkansas The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas, United States. It is the Flagship campus, flagship campus of the University of Arkan ...

, George won six 4 × 400 m SEC titles, three indoor and three outdoor titles. She was also the SEC individual 400 m champion in 2012 and 2013. She anchored the Razorbacks to the NCAA 4 × 400 m outdoor title in 2013. She placed second behind

Shaunae Miller Shaunae Miller-Uibo (born 15 April 1994) is a Bahamian Sport of athletics, track and field Sprint (running), sprinter who competes in the 200 metres, 200 and 400 metres. She is a two-time Olympic champion after winning the women's 400 metres at ...

in the 400 m final at the 2013 NCAA Division I Indoor championships in an indoor PB of 51.05s. This was her third time placing second at the indoor championships. She later helped the

Razorback A feral pig is a pig, domestic pig which has gone feral, meaning it lives in the wild. The term feral pig has also been applied to wild boars, which can interbreed with domestic pigs. They are found mostly in the Americas and Australia. Razorb ...

4 × 400 m team to a second-place finish in the final. As at 2015, George remains tied with Ryan Tolbert as the highest scoring 400 m athlete who never won an NCAA indoor title. George became the 2012 Nigerian champion and went on to win a silver medal in the individual 400 m event behind reigning world champion

Amantle Montsho Amantle Montsho (born July 4, 1983) is a former female sprinter from Botswana who specialized in the 400 metres. She represented her country at the 2004 and 2008 Summer Olympics, reaching the final at the latter edition. She was the first woman ...

, at the 2012 African Championships. At the 2012 London Olympics, George won her 400 m heat in 51.24s but could only manage a fifth-place finish in her semifinal and missed out in the final. She returned for the 4 × 400 m heats and later ran the third leg for the Nigerian team in the final. The team who initially finished in seventh place were disqualified for a lane infringement during the change over between Odumosu and George.

2013

In 2013, George dipped under 51 s for the first time at the Nigeria Athletics Championships in Calabar. She ran 50.99 to claim the national title ahead of Patience George. This set the scene for the rest of her season. At the Moscow World Championships, she produced a personal best of 50.84 to place third in her semifinal but still missed out on a final spot. She returned for the relays and produced a sub 50 split to get Nigeria an automatic qualifying spot for the 4 × 400 m final. The team later placed sixth in the final with George running another sub 50 split. At the 2013 Penn relays, she had also run the fastest split of the entire meet.

2014

In January 2014, George ran the 600 m in an African indoor record time of 1:25.76. This time took George to the ninth spot on the world indoor all-time list. As the fastest in qualifying, she was one of the favourites for the

2014 IAAF World Indoor Championships The 2014 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics was the fifteenth edition of the international indoor track and field competition, organised by the IAAF. The event was held between 7–9 March 2014 at the Ergo Arena in Sopot, Poland. Prepar ...

, but withdrew from the semi-final due to leg cramps. At the 2014 maiden edition of the

IAAF World Relays The World Athletics Relays, known as the ''IAAF World Relays'' until 2019, is an international biennial track and field sporting event held by World Athletics where teams from around the world compete in relay races, some of which are not part ...

in Nassau, Bahamas, she ran the fastest split during the final of the 4 × 400 m relay. The Nigerian team consisting of Sade Abugan, Regina George, Omolara Omotoso and Patience George finished in third place behind the USA and Jamaica. At the 2014 Nigerian Track and Field Championships in

Calabar Calabar (also referred to as Callabar, Calabari, Calbari, Cali and Kalabar) is the capital city of Cross River State, Nigeria. It was originally named Akwa Akpa, in the Efik language, as the Efik people dominate this area. The city is adjac ...

, she was favoured to defend the National title which she had won the two previous years. She ran the fastest qualifying time in the semifinals. Surprisingly, she placed fourth in the final behind her teammates from the 2014 world relay quartet. Former world junior champion, Sade Abugan claimed the National title. Abugan would later become the African champion in 2014. George ran during the heats and finals of the 4 × 400 m at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games. The team consisting of Patience George, Regina George, Ada Benjamin and Sade Abugan, won the silver medal behind the Jamaican team. This same team went on to win the gold medal at the African Championships in Marrakesh where George also placed sixth in the 200 m final.

2015

At the

2015 IAAF World Relays The 2015 IAAF World Relays was the second edition of the biennial, global track and field relay race (athletics), relay competition between nations. As in the previous year, it was held in May in Nassau, Bahamas, Nassau, The Bahamas, Bahamas. Apar ...

in Nassau, George ran the second leg of the 4 × 200 m relay team that won the gold medal ahead of the Jamaican and German teams. The team consisting of

Blessing Okagbare Blessing Oghnewresem Okagbare-Otegheri (born 9 October 1988) is a former Nigerian track and field athlete who specialized in long jump and sprints. She is an Olympic and World Championships medallist in the long jump and a world medalist in t ...

, George, Dominique Duncan and Christy Udoh won the race in 1:30.52 and eclipsed the previous African record in the event. She placed second at the Nigerian Championships behind Patience George and thereby sealed her spot for the 2015 World Championships in Beijing. She missed out on a fastest loser spot in the 400 m heats in Beijing and did not make it to the semifinals. She also led off the Nigerian 4 × 400 m relay team that finished in fifth place in the 4 × 400 m final.

2016

George was part of the Nigerian 4 x 400 m team that finished second in the

African Championships An African Championship is a top level international sports competition between Africa, African athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports club, sports clubs. List of championships ;Athletics * African ...

in Durban.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:George, Regina 1991 births Living people Track and field athletes from Chicago Nigerian female sprinters American female sprinters Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for Nigeria Arkansas Razorbacks women's track and field athletes Athletes (track and field) at the 2014 Commonwealth Games World Athletics Championships athletes for Nigeria African-American track and field athletes American sportspeople of Nigerian descent Commonwealth Games silver medallists for Nigeria American lesbian sportswomen LGBTQ people from Illinois Nigerian LGBTQ sportspeople 21st-century Nigerian sportswomen Nigerian lesbians LGBTQ track and field athletes Nigerian people of Venezuelan descent American sportspeople of Venezuelan descent Olympic female sprinters 21st-century African-American sportswomen Medallists at the 2014 Commonwealth Games NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners 21st-century American sportswomen Commonwealth Games silver medallists in athletics