Pro Hogs

Former Razorback track great retiring

In this file photo dated Saturday, March 8, 2014, Jamaica's Veronica Campbell-Brown runs in the 60m heats during the Athletics World Indoor Championships in Sopot, Poland. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek, FILE)

FAYETTEVILLE — Former University of Arkansas sprinter Veronica Campbell-Brown, who competed in five Olympics for her native Jamaica, has run her last race.

Campbell-Brown, 39, announced Wednesday night before the start of this weekend’s Jamaican Olympic Trials that she is retiring.

“Through the grace of God, I have climbed from a small town in Trelawny, Jamaica up the ladder of success to become one of the most decorated women in the Olympic Games and World Championships history,” Campbell-Brown said in a Twitter post. “As I take off my spikes never to put them on again, this girl from Clarks Town walks away happy and contented with a race well run.”

Campbell-Brown, who was inducted into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame in 2020, won a combined 21 Olympic and World Championships medals between 2000-16.

Among eight Olympic medals, Campbell-Brown won gold in the 200 in 2004 and 2008 and on the 400-relay team in 2004; silver three times on the 400 relay in 2000, 2012 and 2016; and bronze in the 100 in 2004 and 2012.

Campbell-Brown won 11 medals at the Outdoor World Championships and two in the Indoor World Championships, including four individual gold.

“The haul of medals that Veronica won is just mind-boggling,” Lance Harter, Arkansas’ women’s cross country and track and field coach since 1990, said Thursday. “To be able to compete at an Olympics is the pinnacle of our sport. To be able to do it repetitively — especially when you were the No. 1 sprinter in the world like Veronica was for a long time — is an incredible achievement.

“What’s really special is that while she was a phenomenal athlete, she’s an even better person. She’s just a great individual, a fantastic student. She’d do anything she could to help her teammates do well.

“We obviously were lucky to have her. Unfortunately it was only for a short period of time, but she definitely made a statement and always was proud to tell people that she went to the University of Arkansas.”

Campbell-Brown turned pro after she ran for the Razorbacks for one indoor and outdoor season in 2004 — winning the NCAA 200 title indoors and being a four-time All-American — but Harter said she’s had a lasting impact on the program.

“Veronica probably single-handedly put us on the map as far as becoming a program for sprinters,” Harter said in 2020. “I think we were stereotyped as a program that was heavy in the distances and the field events. Veronica immediately brought us legitimacy and world stature in the sprints.”

Campbell-Brown, who earned a marketing degree from the UA in 2006, said in 2020 that she was honored to be going into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame.

“To be recognized for my achievements and to be among the great contributors to the rich history of sports in the state of Arkansas, I’m very humbled and grateful,” Campbell-Brown said. “I’m very appreciative for all the love and support that I’ve received from the state of Arkansas.”

Campbell-Brown married Omar Brown, who also is from Jamaica and was an All-America sprinter for the Razorbacks. The couple lives in Williamsburg, Va. — where Brown is an assistant coach for the William & Mary track and field team — and have a 2-year-old daughter, Avianna.

“Veronica obviously was genetically gifted, but she also had a tremendous work ethic, and not just on the track,” Harter said. “She always took great care of her body. She made it an art, because she knew that [sprinting] was a business and there were plenty of people out there trying to knock her off.

“But she was able over a long period of time to stay on top of the world scene. She had a phenomenal career.”