Sandra Marie Farmer-Patrick (

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 ...

Farmer, born 18 August 1962) is a

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

n-born

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

former

athlete An athlete is most commonly a person who competes in one or more sports involving physical strength, speed, power, or endurance. Sometimes, the word "athlete" is used to refer specifically to sport of athletics competitors, i.e. including track ...

who competed mainly 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 ...

. She won silver medals in that event at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, and at the 1993 World Championships in Stuttgart. She also won the 400 metres hurdles at the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

in 1989 and 1992. Her best time for the event of 52.79 seconds (1993), is the former U.S. record. That performance once ranked her second on the world all-time list, and as of 2024, ranks her 15th on the world all-time list.

Early life

Farmer-Patrick was born Sandra Miller in

Kingston, Jamaica Kingston is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long spit (landform), sand spit which connects the town of Por ...

and lived there until she was eleven years old bouncing between an aunt and her grandmother. She moved to

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

adopted by her great-aunt Vita Farmer and took on the Farmer last name. Vita brought Sandra up in a deeply Pentecostal environment, attending church six times a week, three times on Sunday. To get out of the house, she joined the Flashettes Track Club.

Track and field career

At first, Farmer was forced to run in a dress for religious reasons. She continued to run in short skirts and tutus as part of her more flamboyant professional career, whenever she had the choice of uniform. Her stylish, flashy attire was perhaps as notorious as

FloJo Florence Delorez Griffith Joyner (born Florence Delorez Griffith; December 21, 1959 – September 21, 1998), also known as Flo-Jo, was an American track and field athlete and the fastest woman ever recorded. She was married to Al Joyner, a 1984 ...

at the time. Farmer set an American Junior record of 58.90 in the 400 hurdles at age 14, which ranked her number five amongst all Americans.US Women 400m Hurdles Rankings
Track and Field News Scholarship money she won in the Colgate Games kept her in St Angela Hall Academy. She lowered her time to 58.31 while in high school. She briefly attended the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it ...

, but ended up running for

California State University, Los Angeles California State University, Los Angeles (Cal State LA) is a public research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is part of the California State University system. Cal State LA offers 142 bachelor's degree programs, 122 m ...

(at the same time as the

Howard Howard is a masculine given name derived from the English surname Howard. ''The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names'' notes that "the use of this surname as a christian name is quite recent and there seems to be no particular reason for ...

sisters A sister is a woman or a girl who shares parents or a parent with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to r ...

). In addition to some very fast relays with the sisters, she still holds the school record in the 400 hurdles. She was elected into the CSULA Athletic Hall of Fame in 2007. Starting in 1982, she represented Jamaica in international competition, until 1987, removing her name from the American rankings list. At the

1984 Los Angeles Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and commonly known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the ...

, she finished eighth in the 400 m hurdles final in a sub-par race, the first time the event was held in the Olympics. Farmer was ranked in the world's top ten for the 400 m hurdles for the first time in 1987. In July of that year, she ran 54.59 to win a silver medal at the

Pan American Games The Pan American Games, known as the Pan Am Games, is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas. It features thousands of athletes participating in competitions to win different summer sports. It is held among athletes from nations of th ...

in Indianapolis behind

Judi Brown Judith Lynne Brown Clarke (née Brown, formerly Brown-King, born July 14, 1961) is an American politician and former athlete who competed mainly in the 400 metre hurdles. She is the 1984 Olympic silver medalist and two-time Pan American Games ch ...

-King. Then in September at the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

in Rome, she finished fourth in the final in 54.38, only 0.07 from a medal. After marrying David Patrick and hyphenating her name, Farmer-Patrick began competing for the US in 1988 and attempted to qualify for the US Olympic team for Seoul, but was disqualified in her semi-final at the US Olympic trials for inadvertently running out of her lane. Having dual citizenship, she had the option to run for Jamaica, but by switching to the US, some Jamaican newspapers had branded her as a traitor. Her appeal to the Jamaican Federation went unanswered. In 1989, she was unbeaten in the 400 m hurdles and was the fastest woman in the world at the event, improving her best to 53.37. In September, she won the

title in Barcelona, running 53.84 to defeat

Tatyana Ledovskaya Tatyana Mikhailovna Ledovskaya (, ; born 21 May 1966 in Shchyokino, Tula Oblast) is a retired athlete who competed mainly in the 400 metres hurdles. She represented the Soviet Union and later Belarus, training in Minsk. Biography S ...

and

Sally Gunnell Sally Jane Janet Gunnell, OBE, DL (born 29 July 1966) is a British former track-and-field athlete, who won the 1992 Olympic gold medal in the 400 metres hurdles. During a 24-month period between 1992 and 1994, Gunnell won every international ...

. In 1990, she won the Goodwill Games title in 55.16, defeating Schowonda Williams. A medal favourite for the 1991 World Championships in Tokyo, Farmer-Patrick ended up fourth in a time of 53.95, in a race won by Tatyana Ledovsakya, with Sally Gunnell second and Janeene Vickers third. Still she was ranked number 1 in the world for 1989, 1991 and 1992. She competed for the United States in the

1992 Barcelona Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics (, ), officially the Games of the XXV Olympiad (, ) and officially branded as Barcelona '92, were an international multi-sport event held from 25 July to 9 August 1992 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Beginning in 1994 ...

, where she ran 53.69 to win the silver medal behind her greatest rival, Great Britain's Sally Gunnell. A month after the Olympics, she successfully defended her World Cup title in Havana, ahead of

Gowry Retchakan Selvagowry Retchakan-Müller, (née Vardakumar, formerly Hodge, born 21 June 1960) is an English former track and field athlete who competed in the 400 metres hurdles. She represented Great Britain at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, and ...

and

Margarita Ponomaryova Margarita Anatolyevna Ponomaryova (; 19 June 1963 – 16 September 2021), also known as Margarita Khromova, was a hurdler from Russia, best known for setting the world record in the women's 400 metres hurdles in 1984 with 53.58 secs. Ponomaryov ...

. The following year at the 1993 World Championships held in

Stuttgart, Germany Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...

, she broke the existing world record running 52.79. But Gunnell also broke the record finishing .05 faster at 52.74, passing after the last hurdle and pushing the diving Farmer-Patrick to another silver medal. She was ranked number 1 in the US from 1988 to 1993. Having missed the 1994 season due to pregnancy, Farmer-Patrick returned in 1995 and finished fourth at the US Championships. She then qualified for the

1996 Atlanta Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

. At her third and final games, she was eliminated in the semi-finals, failing to reach the final by just one-one hundredth of a second, a performance which was later disqualified due to a high testosterone-epitestosterone (T-E) ratio. In 2019, she was inducted into the

National Track and Field Hall of Fame National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

Personal life

Farmer-Patrick married fellow 400 m hurdler David Patrick in January 1988 and is currently living in Austin, Texas with their two children David and Sierra. Sierra played collegiate volleyball and ran track at the University of Texas.

Achievements

* Won the Women's Overall Grand Prix title in 1993 (with

Sonia O'Sullivan Sonia O'Sullivan (born 28 November 1969) is an Irish former track and field athlete. She won a gold medal in the 5000 metres at the 1995 World Championships, and a silver medal in the 5000 metres at the 2000 Olympic Games. Her 2000 m ...

2nd and

Stefka Kostadinova Stefka Georgieva Kostadinova (; born 25 March 1965) is a Bulgarian former athlete who competed in the high jump. Her world record of 2.09 metres stood since 1987 until being broken by Yaroslava Mahuchikh in 2024. She is the 1996 Olympic cham ...

3rd) * Won the Overall Grand Prix 400 m hurdles title in 1989, 1991 and 1993 * 3-time US Champion at 400 metres hurdles; in 1989, 1992 and 1993): 2nd in 1986, 1987, 1990 and 1991

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Farmer-Patrick, Sandra 1962 births Living people American female hurdlers Athletes from Kingston, Jamaica Doping cases in athletics Athletes (track and field) at the 1982 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1983 Pan American Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1984 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1987 Pan American Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1992 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1996 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games athletes for Jamaica Pan American Games silver medalists for Jamaica Pan American Games silver medalists in athletics (track and field) Competitors at the 1982 Central American and Caribbean Games Central American and Caribbean Games gold medalists for Jamaica Central American and Caribbean Games bronze medalists for Jamaica Olympic athletes for Jamaica Olympic silver medalists for the United States in track and field Jamaican emigrants to the United States American sportspeople in doping cases World Athletics Championships medalists Medalists at the 1992 Summer Olympics World Athletics Championships athletes for Jamaica World Athletics Championships athletes for the United States Goodwill Games medalists in athletics Central American and Caribbean Games medalists in athletics Competitors at the 1990 Goodwill Games Competitors at the 1986 Goodwill Games Medalists at the 1987 Pan American Games 20th-century American sportswomen Arizona Wildcats women's track and field athletes Cal State Los Angeles Golden Eagles women's track and field athletes