Читать книгу Indiana University Olympians. From Leroy Samse to Lilly King онлайн

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For years, Nathan, five foot eleven and 170 pounds, was judged as an athlete of talent but had no discipline. She has stated her progression was gradual because she stayed clean and did not use performance-enhancing drugs, as she claimed other heptathletes did.

As a high school freshman for Fort Wayne South Side, she ran on a 4×400-meter relay team that won a 1983 state title in 3:48.18, a record that stood for twenty-eight years. She won five state titles in the 100- and 300-meter hurdles.

At Indiana University, she was a six-time Big Ten champion in four different events: indoor 55-meter hurdles, pentathlon, long jump, and 400-meter hurdles.

As a junior in 1989, she was fourth in the long jump and sixth in the 400 hurdles at the NCAA Championships. She culminated her college career in 1990 by finishing second in the NCAA heptathlon with a school record of 5,855 points. That started a fifteen-year streak of ranking in the top ten in the United States in the hep.

Nathan was gold medalist at what proved to be a contentious Pan American Games at Havana in 1991. There were charges of Cuban corruption. Nathan said distances in the heptathlon were consistently shortened for the Americans, but she won nevertheless with 5,778 points. She affirmed she was a contender to make the Olympic team a year later.