Two time Olympian LaTasha Colander Clark to be inducted into the Hampton Roads African American Sports Hall of Fame

LaTasha Colander(Clark) of USA competes in the women's 4 x 100 metre relay on August 26, 2004 during the Athens 2004 Summer Olympic Games at the Olympic Olympic Stadium in the Sports Complex in Athens, Greece. photo: michael steele/Getty Images

(BMLTV) NORFOLK VA., October 25, 2012 - The Hampton Roads African American Sports Hall of Fame will celebrate their sixteeth year anniversary at the Waterside Marriott in Downtown Norfolk this coming Saturday October 27, 2012 at 7:00 PM.

One of the big highlights of the evening will the induction of  two time Olympian LaTasha Colander-Clark.

Colander-Clark, a native of Portsmouth, began her track career by winning 12 Virginia State titles while at Manor now named Woodrow Wilson High School. Colander-Clark won the 1994 USA Junior title in the 100-meter hurdles and was second at the World Junior Championships. Rarely challenged in high school, she won three championships at the National Scholastic Outdoor meet before earning a scholarship to the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Colander-Clark completed her outstanding career at the University of North Carolina. She led the Tar Heels to 14 Atlantic Coast Conference titles and was a three-time ACC champion in the 100-meter hurdles. Colander-Clark also was a seventeen time All-American.

After college, she reinvented herself as a 400 runner and won the event at the U.S. Olympic Trials in 2000. At the 2000 Summer Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia, Colander-Clark ran the anchor leg on the triumphant U.S. 4 X 400-meter relay team winning a gold medal. She also ran the second leg on the 4 X 200m relay team that set a world record at the 2000 Penn Relays. Colander-Clark won the U.S. championship in the 400 in 2001. She changed gears again to specialize in the 100, and won the U.S. Olympic Trials in 2004 and finishing eighth in the Summer Games in Athens.

Colander-Clark was the 2004 Olympic 400m Champion. In the 2005 season, Colander qualified to be a part of Team USA for the World Outdoor Championships in Helsinki where she made it to the 200m finals in which she placed fifth in the world. Colander-Clark retired from track and field in 2006.

For more information regarding The African American Sports Hall of Fame  Celebration and Banquet, please! contact Yvette Todd at 757-404-1755

by abhi ahmadadeen