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From Little Athlete to World Champion!
Click on the image above to view an interview with the ABC which relects on Sally's journey from a Little Athlete to a World Champion
Australian Broadcasting Corporation Broadcast: 05/09/2011 Reporter: Peter McCutcheon
Courtesy ABC
The remarkable Sally Pearson produced one of the most dominant displays in the long history of Australian track and field to claim gold in the 100 metres hurdles at the world championships in Daegu.
Pearson smashed her personal best twice in the one night, capped by her gold-medal winning effort of 12.28 seconds in the final, which moved her to fourth on the all-time list.
She had previously won her semi-final in 12.36, after entering the meet having never run quicker than 12.48.
If she keeps up this stunning rate of improvement in the lead-up to the London Olympics, Bulgarian Yordanka Donkova's 23-year-old world mark of 12.21 now seems within reach of the flying Australian.
For Pearson, the emotional victory capped an amazing season.
"I said I was going to do a PB (personal best) in the final and I was making sure I was doing that tonight," she said.
"Someone said it was the fourth fastest time in history, so I couldn't ask for anything more.
"A gold medal is what I was more excited about."
Pearson had focused on claiming a first world title ever since winning the Commonwealth crown 11 months ago in New Delhi.
"I've wanted this so badly," she said.
"I've made sure that I've focused on every single training session that I've done and haven't left anything on the track.
"I've given it my all and finally come out on the track tonight and proven that when I want something badly enough and stay focused enough that I can achieve it.
"As soon as I crossed the line I knew I'd won.
"... I didn't even see the time, I just saw all the yellow (shirts) in the crowd and ran to them screaming, because everyone was so happy for me."
Throughout her time in Daegu, Pearson - who is unbeaten in 2011 - has been a model of confidence and composure.
And that confidence proved well placed.
As usual, Pearson was first to the opening hurdle in the final and after that she was never going to be run down.
The gap to second-placed American Danielle Carruthers was 0.19, smashing the previous biggest winning margin of 0.12 in a 100m hurdles final at a world championships set by American Gail Devers in 1993.
Beijing Olympic champion Dawn Harper from the United States was third, also in 12.47.
Pearson's victory was the first by an Australian in Daegu and the 10th in world championships history.
It more than made up for the heartbreak suffered by the 24-year-old Queenslander at the previous world titles in 2009, when she was hampered by injury in the final stages of there build-up and finished fifth in the final.
The Australian will now turn her attention to London, perfectly placed to go one better than her surprise silver-medal effort at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Pearson even managed to beat the "curse of the cover", which has cut down all but one of the star athletes featured on the front page of the Daegu daily program.
She celebrated the victory with a joyous lap of honour draped in the Australian flag, even stopping to give the championships mascot a big hug.
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