Olympic silver medalist Anna Cockrell returned to her hometown this past weekend and visited the Johnson C. Smith University Track and Field team. The daughter of JCSU Board of Trustees Vice Chair Kieth Cockrell, Anna shared her inspiring journey as a champion.
During her visit, Cockrell recounted her sacrifices to achieve her goals. “Nothing was going to stop me from what I had to do. That’s really how I felt,” she shared in a heartfelt message to the JCSU track and field team. “I mean Coach Lawrence knows this; I’ve sacrificed a lot.” She detailed her experiences moving after turning professional.
“I was in LA for college. I left LA to go to Texas when I went pro, and my coach took a job at Arkansas. The last place I ever wanted to live was Fayetteville, Arkansas,” she said.
Winning In Paris
Cockrell, who recently earned a silver medal in the women’s 400-meter hurdles at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, has established herself as a prominent figure in track and field. Her recent Olympic victory came after she beat her record with a 51.87-second run in the race. She was second to her USA teammate Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, who won the race with a world record time of 50.37 seconds.
I’ve been ugly crying for the past 30 minutes, but it’s all smiles now,” she shared in a Tiktok video after winning her silver medal. “I am over the moon excited, and I can’t wait until I get my medal tomorrow.”
A two-time Olympian and a University of Southern California graduate, she also medaled at the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru. In the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, she finished eighth in her event, an experience that fueled her determination leading up to her Olympic success in Paris. She started her track career at Charlotte’s Providence Day School.
