Gail Devers

Gail Devers has never given up on life especially when things got tough in her life. She always just kept going, not letting anything bother her.

My hero is Gail Devers. She lives in Duluth, Georgia. She was born on November 19, 1966 in Seattle Washington. My hero made a difference to me because she ran the 100m dash and ran the 100m hurdles and pretty much always won and never gave up on life. Gail has been in the same sport for 22 years and she works very hard at what she does.

In 1989 Gail found out the she had Graves Disease. She suffered migraine headaches, sleeplessness, fainting spells and frequent vision loss. This had gone on for two and a half years and she blamed it on her Olympic training. Graves Disease is a debilitating chronic thyroid disorder. Her feet blistered and swelled so bad the skin cracked and bled. It hurt her so bad she had to stop running, it also made her crawl from her bed to the bathroom. When Gail was finally diagnosed with Graves disease, she chose not to undergo the treatment. She decided not to take medication that was on the U.S. Olympic Committees list of banned drugs. The disease was eventually treated and stabilized. Gail says if she ever had to relive her life she would ask for the Graves Disease again because it made her the person she is today. The disease showed her the value of faith and determination. The doctors told her that she may never walk again but the faith she had told her she would walk even if she did lose both of her feet. No matter what, she always finds a way to accomplish the goals that she has set for herself. Gail believes everybody has a handicap and it is how you deal with it that makes a difference.

Gail became the world's fastest women in the year of 1992. After she won the 100 meter dash at the Olympics in Barcelona she battled a record for the 100 meter hurdles(12.61 sec). Gail won the Olympic gold medals in 1992 and 1996 and broke quite a few records. She started the Gail Devers Foundation, which offered health awareness symposiums, college scholarships and youth mentoring programs.