Tayna Lawrence ’99
FIU alumna captures gold medal at Athens Olympics

by Alexandra Pecharich

Call Tayna Lawrence a fighter. The world-class track and field athlete — the only FIU graduate to have earned medals in Olympic competition — went to the 2004 games in Athens on the heels of surgery for stress fractures in her shins and a subsequent hamstring injury. Already the winner of bronze and silver medals from the 2000 games in Sydney, in the 100-meter dash and 4x100-meter relay, respectively, she managed, in her words, “a major comeback” to capture gold this time around.

Running for her native Jamaica, Lawrence reprised her relay role when she joined three of her country - women in a race that many had anticipated would go to a strong U.S. team. A poor hand-off by the Americans, however, and a stellar performance by Jamaica ended in favor of Lawrence and her teammates.

The FIU alumna describes her latest turn on the Olympic medal stand as stirring as her previous two. “The feelings never change,” she said. “You see your country’s flag. You hear your country’s national anthem. It’s the same emotion.”

She speaks of her accomplishments with restraint and humility, although the preparation to compete at her level requires effort most people could never endure. Her pre-Olympic regimen involved six-hour training days, five days per week, which included weight-room work for overall strengthening and special attention to improving her form.

Pushing her along the way: coach and husband Lloyd Edwards. The two met on a recommendation that he take over Lawrence’s training upon her graduation from FIU in 1999. The pair agreed to work together, and she relocated to Texas shortly thereafter to get started with Edwards, a move that has paid off both professionally and personally. The couple married in late 2001 and today make their home in Miami.

Despite the personal relationship, the duo has escaped the pitfalls of eating, sleeping and breathing their work, Lawrence says.

“Most of the time we leave it on the track,” she explains. “[Lloyd] knows when to back off.”

Even with what many athletes would consider the highest possible achievement — an Olympic gold medal — firmly in hand, Lawrence is not even remotely considering closing the door on international competition. Although she admits to having never imagined she was good enough to enjoy a career in track after college — something her FIU coach says he never doubted — she today looks forward to continuing her charge. In August, she plans to compete in both the individual 100-meter race and the 4x100- meter relay in the world track and field championships in Helsinki. And down the road, she hopes to run in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

In spite of the physical wear and tear from which she has so remarkably recovered, including a stress fracture in her back that had her wearing a body cast the year before her public triumph in Sydney, Lawrence believes she has what it takes to stay at her prime for four more years.

“That’s very achievable for me,” she states of her goal to participate in a third Olympics. “I’m only 29 years old, but I feel like I’m 16.”