We were tasked with reliving our most memorable Olympic moment as it relates to Clemson. Clearly, the authors of this site focus less on international events and more on the collegiate action. Today, though, we'll look back at one of the great Clemson sprinters...Shawn "Cheetah Man" Crawford. While at Clemson, Crawford was the two time 200 meter NCAA indoor champion (1998 and 2000).
Crawford is a unique cat, so much so that the item below comes directly from his twitter account.
He was disqualified from an international race when the phantom of the opera mask he was wearing slipped and he ended up outside of his lane. I cannot make that up! Many of you will also recall Crawford appearing on "Man vs Beast" where he raced a giraffe and a zebra on national television (he defeated the giraffe but could not catch the zebra).
Crawford was able to ascend to the top of the track and field world winning gold back in the '04 Athens Games. Crawford didn't just win the 200 meters that year, he smoked the field en route to his gold metal.
Crawford got more bling in Athens, picking up a silver in the 4x100 meter relay. That team was probably the fastest in the world but had some issues handling the baton. The USA was very, very close to overcoming some of those issues but narrowly lost to the UK.
Following some disqualifications during the 200 meter finals in Beijing, Crawford earned a silver medal. In a tremendous showing of sportsmanship, Crawford gave his medal to one of the athletes who disqualified for veering from his lane. You can see the apparent disgust on Crawford's face as he wanted to repeat as champion and did not want to win a spot on the podium by virtue of disqualification.
Overall, that is one heck of an Olympic career. Two sets of games that culminate in three (3) podium finishes--one gold and two silver. This man is certainly a Clemson legend and is well known all around the track and field world. The Indian Land High School graduate has been to the apex of the track world and competed at the highest level for over a decade.
We encourage you to use this thread as a place to discuss your favorite Olympic memories, particularly those involving Clemson representatives. I am sure many forgotten memories will come to the surface as this discussion evolves.
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