McLeod happy to run over life's hurdles

Omar McLeod loves being in the spotlight, and he's not shy to admit it.

"Ever since I was a kid I knew I wanted to be famous," the Jamaican hurdler said at the Shanghai Diamond League meet on the weekend.

"I wanted to be a TV personality. I wanted to be an Olympian. I wanted to be a gold medalist. I used to be a wild dreamer."

Like most Jamaican kids, McLeod was a student of the country's national sport, running, and was inspired by megastar compatriot Usain Bolt, the eight-time Olympic champion considered the greatest sprinter in history.

And so McLeod ran. On anything. Over everything.

"I used to set up buckets and trash cans on the road and race my friends. Every time I was out with my mother and I saw a speed bump, I would jump over it. I loved hurdling. It was like I was born to be a hurdler," he said.

Whenever his mom sent him on a grocery errand, McLeod and his cousins would race to the store over dirt tracks, tarred roads and grassy fields. There were no medals for victory, just sweets.

Just like Bolt's Olympic career, McLeod was undefeated.

"I ended up winning all the sweets, so my aunt told me I had to share with the rest of the kids or I would get lots of cavities," he laughed.

McLeod went on to run for Manchester High School and Kingston College before moving to the United States, where he lit up the collegiate athletics scene with the Arkansas Razorbacks, becoming a four-time NCAA champion in the 60m and 110m hurdles as well as the 4x100m relay.

The 23-year-old loves his sport. He imagines each hurdle as the struggles he went through in life - the death of his beloved aunt in 2014 being the most significant one of all. She was only 27 years old.

"When she passed away, I was reintroduced to myself. It was one of those redefining moments that got me thinking about what I wanted to do with my life," said McLeod.

"Life is short. I realized I had to go after what I wanted."

And go for it he did. The next year, he clocked 12:97 seconds to beat Hansle Parchment, the 110m hurdles national-record holder, at the Jamaican Championships.

In April 2016, McLeod posted 9.99 in the 100m at a meet in Fayetteville, North Carolina. No other athlete had run the 110m hurdles and 100m sprint in under 13 and 10 seconds respectively.

Ironically, though, McLeod's explosive pace was his Achilles heel. He was approaching the hurdles faster than he could react and crashed out of two races ahead of the 2016 Rio Olympics.

But the bruises he suffered were merely superficial. A few months later in Rio, McLeod made history by becoming the first Jamaican to win Olympic gold in the 110m hurdles.

His childhood dream fulfilled, McLeod savored his victory lap.

"I just didn't want that moment to pass. I ended up going back to the hotel at two or three in the morning," he said.

"I spoke to my mom when I got back to the hotel. We started crying as soon as she called me."

It's obvious that family is important to McLeod. He claims the Bible quotes he frequently gets from his family help keep him grounded. In his downtime, he plays video games and watches Pokemon cartoons.

"I'm still young, there's so much more I have to accomplish - that's also what keeps me grounded," he said.

McLeod's latest 110m hurdles triumph came at the Shanghai Diamond League meet. Again, his pace proved problematic as he sent the second hurdle crashing, but it was also what sealed the win in the final three meters, allowing him to accelerate past Orlando Ortega and eclipse the Spaniard by 0.06 seconds.

alywinchew@chinadaily.com.cn