You are reading

Queens Athlete Running For Olympic Gold Tuesday

Dalilah Muhammad, who is originally from Jamaica, Queens, will compete in the women’s 400-meter hurdle final Tuesday. (Photo: Erik van Leeuwen via Wiki Commons, under GNU Free Documentation License)

Aug. 2 2021 By Michael Dorgan

A Queens woman is one of the favorites to win a gold medal for Team USA at the Tokyo Olympics Tuesday.

Dalilah Muhammad, who is originally from Jamaica, Queens, will compete in the women’s 400-meter hurdle final on Aug. 3 at 10:30 p.m. EST after comfortably winning her semi-final race Monday.

Muhammad clocked a time of 53.30 seconds at a rain-soaked Japan National Stadium, bettering her time of 54.97 in round 1 Friday.

The 31-year-old is the reigning champion of the event having crossed the finish line in first place at the 2016 Rio Olympics. She is the only American to have ever won Olympic gold in the event.

In 2019, the decorated athlete won gold at the world championships in Doha, Qatar, and also smashed the then 400-meter hurdle world record. In her amateur days, Muhammad won titles at state and national levels while attending Benjamin N. Cardozo High School in Bayside.

Muhammad’s quest to defend her Olympic crown has been besieged with setbacks. She suffered a hamstring injury earlier this year and she was also struck down with COVID-19 twice.

In the meantime, fellow Team USA member Sydney McLaughlin has been setting the division alight and emphatically beat Muhammad at the 400-meter Olympic hurdles trials in June – registering a new world record time of 51.90 in the process.

McLaughlin, 21, from New Jersey, won her Olympic semi-final Monday with a time of 53.03 seconds, marginally quicker than Muhammad. McLaughlin finished 14th in the event five years ago when she was just 16 years of age.

The pair will now battle it out for supremacy in a highly anticipated clash Tuesday. The race will be aired live on NBC.

email the author: news@queenspost.com
No comments yet

Leave a Comment
Reply to this Comment

All comments are subject to moderation before being posted.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Recent News

Exclusive: Southeast Queens leaders endorse Mark Levine for NYC comptroller

Apr. 17, 2025 By Athena Dawson

Cook cited Levine’s experience and problem-solving skills as a reason for her vote of confidence. “Mark is the clear choice to be our City’s next comptroller, and I am proud to back him today and every day. He has the experience and creative problem-solving skills to tackle some of our city’s most pressing issues while protecting New Yorkers from the dangers of Trump and the federal government,”  she shared in a statement. 

Op-ed: The power of representation in healthcare

Apr. 17, 2025 By Dr. Ifeanyi Oguagha

As physicians of color at Joseph P. Addabbo Family Health Center (JPAFHC), we regularly witness how representation in healthcare can save lives. Our patients – who, like us, are predominantly people of color – walk through our doors not only with medical concerns but also often carrying the weight of generations of inequities that have shaped their health outcomes.