@MidKnightDreams Do Come True!

Bianca Knight flashes her Gold (Source)

The young lady, who literally raced to stardom in my neighborhood's backyard, is now an Olympic gold medalist!

Bianca Knight, affectionately known as @MidKnightDreams on Twitter, will not only be bringing home a gold medal, she'll also bring home a world record. The U.S. Women annihilated a 27 year old East Germany record as they finished the 4x100m relay in a blazing time of 40.82 (record was 41.37). 

Her high school coach, Calvin Bolton, was proud of her in the local news interviews as well.  He is a Coldwater, MS native who stayed a few doors down from me in college at Mississippi Valley State University.

People gathered at her school, Ridgeland High School, to view her accomplishment in the auditorium and they were not disappointed. Bianca, who runs the turns on the track almost better than any other American, helped extend a lead for the U.S. Women which led to the world record.  The media pretty much had them pegged for a silver because of the recent dominance of the Jamaicans, but the U.S. Women took the lead and never looked back.

Jamaica took silver with a national best 41.41 time.  Despite having 100m Gold medal winner Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and 100m Bronze medalist, Veronica Campbell-Brown, on their team, it wasn't enough to overcome the Americans.

Props to Bianca, Allyson Felix, Camelita Jeter and Tiana Madison for returning the relay team to glory and for being the first-ever under 41 seconds.  They erased bad memories of botched hand offs over the past couple of Olympics and got the gold for the first time since 1996.

The under-10 year old girl who used to beat older boys in foot races in my friend's neighborhood has turned her fantasy into reality.  The Mississippi teen who broke tons of state records at my city's school  is now etched in the history books.  The Texas Longhorn who left school early because she felt destined for greatness is now an Olympic gold medalist.

This is what the Olympics are about.  Pride in your country.  Despite how jacked up the U.S. can be at times with racism, sexism, and any other "ism" that comes to mind, for 40.82 seconds, all of that was gone.  Not only am I proud of my homegirl, but I'm also proud of the other three ladies for representing my home country.

Mayor McGee, fire up the parade plans. Ridgeland is having a party!

Tiana Madison, Carmelita Jeter, Bianca Knight and Allyson Felix

We're Pulling for You, @MidKnightDreams!

The waiting is over and the Summer Olympics are here! Although I don't need motivation to watch these games from start-to-finish, I do have extra incentive this year: four athletes with Mississippi ties are competing in track and field events!

Bianca Knight - Women's 4 x 100m relay participant

First of all, my favorite of the bunch is Bianca Knight. I'll admit that I'm slightly biased towards her since she graduated from high school less than 1/2 mile from me.  A former co-worker of mine used to tell me about how she would race the boys in the neighborhoods of Rankin County and embarrass them.  She officially started racing at the early age of 12.

She first received national recognition when she was named the Gatorade 2006 National Girls Track & Field Athlete of the Year.  After a short stint as a Texas Longhorn, she turned pro and started working on a way to bring home a gold medal for the U.S. team.

We're pulling for you, Bianca!

Now, despite the fact that the remaining people on my list were not born in Mississippi like Miss Knight, they did attend local universities.  Here are my other incentives to stay glued to my couch for T&F events:

Michael Tinsley (Jackson State Univ.) - Men's 400m hurdles

Brittney Reese (Univ. of Mississippi) - Women's long jump

Isiah Young (Univ. of Mississippi) - Men's 200m

What is your motivation to watch the 2012 Summer Olympics in London?