Sally-bration! Sally Pearson wins gold

Sally Pearson Wins
Gold In 100m Hurdles

If your work colleagues look a little blurry eyed this morning, there's a good reason. They most likely woke up at an ungodly hour of the morning to watch Sally Pearson win gold for Australia by the slimmest of margins.

Two-one hundredths of a second is all that separated Pearson and Dawn Harper from the U.S.A. in the 100m hurdles, but with an Olympic record time of 12.35 seconds, our champ has become the only Australian women to win the event since it’s introduction to the games in 1972.

“I didn’t realise how close Dawn Harper was,” Pearson told Channel Nine straight after the race. "I wasn't going to let myself look until I crossed the finish line and when I crossed the line and saw we were all lined up really close and everyone in yellow over there was saying 'It's yours' and I thought I don't believe it until I see it on the screen. And then it came up and it's, oh, a relief. Nothing hurts at the moment. I feel like I'm walking on a cloud."

Pearson nailed her semi-final run, but clipped hurdle eight during the race, something that played on her mind going into the final just an hour-and-half later, however, there was absolutely no stopping Super Sally in the end.

“I was so pumped up after that heat and I said to myself, ‘I want this, it has to be mine. It can’t go any other way.’” She recalled. “That was awesome. I was so nervous and so scared before but I was so ready. I just really wanted that and I wasn’t going to let anything stop me.”

She added, “It wasn’t the fastest time I’ve run, but I said ‘I don’t care if I run 14 seconds and win, I just want that gold medal.’”

The Gold Coaster, named the worldwide Female Athlete of the Year for 2011, knows that her new-found fame comes with a degree of responsibility (and probably a massive amount of endorsements!).

“I guess that’s the ultimate goal of any elite athlete to inspire any young up and coming athlete and I hope I’ve done it tonight,” Pearson said.

Well done Super Sally!!