PARIS — Daniel Roberts was bloody, and possibly a little bruised, after the 110-meter hurdles at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
It was worth it, though.
Roberts dove across the finish line to take the silver medal by three one-thousandths of a second, performing a balletic tumble onto the track that gymnast Simone Biles, who watched Thursday night’s action from the stands, could appreciate.
The medal was Roberts’ second on the global stage, following his bronze at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest.
“Got some battle scars,” the Hampton native said, showing off three deep gashes on his left forearm.
Credit: Anderson Emerole
Credit: Anderson Emerole
But those didn’t come from the desperate dive across the line. Roberts said he was spiked by the runner beside him at just the second of 10 hurdles.
That was just the beginning of his bumpy trip down the straightaway. Roberts hit at least four hurdles, leaving the fourth and 10th barriers on the ground before making the mad dash to the finish line.
Roberts said his coach, 1996 gold medalist Allen Johnson, told him before the race that if he had to dive, he should go for it.
“No matter what it took, I was going to get me a medal,” said Roberts.
Longtime rival Grant Holloway won the gold with a time of 12.99 seconds, showing his consistency by dipping below 13 seconds for the 11th time.
Roberts clocked 13.09 seconds. But while Jamaica’s Rasheed Broadbell was given the same time, the photo finish gave the nod to Roberts, whose actual time was 13.085 to Broadbell’s season best of 13.088.
Holloway, a three-time world champion, and Roberts restored the United States to prominence in the 110 hurdles at the Olympic Games. Holloway won the 20th gold for the U.S., which now has 59 medals in the event dating back to 1896.
However, in the past eight years, the only U.S. medal at the Olympics was Holloway’s silver in Tokyo.
“It speaks great things to the USA dominance,” said Roberts, who ran over and jumped on Holloway in celebration after the race. “Obviously, I want to win. Obviously, I want to do great things as well and I believe those will come, but right now it’s his time.”
He said the two rivals have been talking about bringing the country back up to speed in the high hurdles since he was at Kentucky and Holloway ran for Florida.
“Our junior year, we were speaking of how the U.S. was struggling for a while in major championships,” Roberts said. “We talked about that in college and now to have us going 1 and 2, it’s a good thing.”
The last USA 1-2 came at the London 2012 Olympics. Aries Merritt won the gold and Jason Richardson the silver, with Jamaican Hansle Parchment the bronze medalist.
Parchment was the defending Olympic champion in the hurdles when the gun went off Thursday night.
Roberts got to the first hurdle before anyone else — even Holloway, but then he was clipped by Enrique Llopis of Spain and Holloway took control while Roberts battled to join him on the podium. Parchment wound up eighth.
“It was not at all the cleanest race from start to finish, but we pulled it out,” Roberts said. “That’s been my journey since high school. Having two knee surgeries, having different culture changes, just having to learn and adjust and adapt. And pulling and it out.”
Roberts, 26, played football in high school, and the surgery for three ligament tears also gave him scars.
But it was the psychic scars from his up-and-down career that he had to overcome. In 2019, Roberts won the first of his three U.S. national titles, defeating Holloway.
At the World Championships, Roberts won his heat, but was disqualified because he knocked over the hurdle in another athlete’s lane. Roberts also won the national title in 2022, when Holloway skipped the final because he had a bye into the world championships.
Roberts was leading in the first round at the 2022 worlds when he hit a hurdle and fell.
In 2023, he began working with Johnson and won his third national title en route to the bronze at worlds.
“This is a great start, Roberts said. “I feel like I’m still very young in the game. I’ve got two medals in major championships now, so I think we’re going in the right direction.”
Roberts believes he could have won the Olympic title if he had executed better. “I hit like four hurdles,” he said. “(Holloway) knows that, too.”
“Who got to the finish line first?” asked Holloway. “Thank you.”
But he praised Roberts for his perseverance. “Daniel’s a little bit late to the party, but with everything going on, getting medals back-to-back years is always a great feeling for him.”
Even if he had to be a little sore and bloody to do it.
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