Benjamin, Terry, Brown & De Grasse Earn Olympic Gold Medals In Paris

Track & Field | August 09, 2024

It was a golden day for the USC track and field program at the 2024 Paris Olympics as Trojan athletes earned four gold medals including Rai Benjamin in the men’s 400m hurdles, TeeTee Terry in the women’s 4x100m relay and Aaron Brown and Andre De Grasse in the men’s 4x100m relay at Stade de France in Paris, France today (Aug. 9).  De Grasse became Canada’s most decorated male Olympian, earning his seventh medal in track and field.

• Rai Benjamin (USC, 2019) for USA won the men’s 400m hurdles title with a time of 46.46 to earn the gold medal in the event. The time matched his season best in the 400m hurdles.  Benjamin, who placed second by 0.23 seconds to Karsten Warholm at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, bested the second-place Norwegian by 0.60 seconds today.  Benjamin’s time run in Tokyo of 46.17 is the American record and second-fastest time ever by a male in the 400m hurdles.
• Earlier in the day, TeeTee Terry (USC, 2021) won the first gold medal of her career and by a Trojan at this Olympics when she ran the second leg for USA’s winning 4x100m relay which posted a season-best time of 41.78.  Terry’s leg was clocked at 9.98, tied for the fastest second leg in the final and the fastest split among the USA runners.  The rest of the gold medal-winning relay were Melissa Jefferson, Gabby Thomas and Sha’Carri Richardson.  The race was run during a heavy rain, which dissipated shortly after Richardson’s brilliant anchor leg brought the team back from fourth to victory.
• About 15 minutes after Terry won gold, Aaron Brown (USC, 2014) and Andre De Grasse (USC, 2015) earned gold medals with the Canadian men’s 4x100m relay team.  Brown ran leadoff and De Grasse anchor for Canada which got the stick around the track in a season-best time of 37.50.  De Grasse got the baton slightly behind in third place and posted an 8.89 split to bring Team Canada home with gold medals.  The other two runners for Canada were Jerome Blake and Brendon Rodney.  It was Canada’s first gold medal in the event at the Olympics since 1996.  De Grasse became Canada’s most decorated male Olympian, having won seven medals in his career (2 gold, 2 silver and 3 bronze). He is now tied with swimmer Penny Oleksiak for most medals ever (7) by any Canadian athlete at the Olympics.
• Yemi John (USC, 2026) ran…