Florida A&M University graduate student LaVonne Idlette had quite a journey to the London Olympics in this past summer.
Idlette competed in the 100-meter hurdles representing her home country, the Dominican Republic.
Idlette is a second-year law school graduate student from Miami. Idlette earned her bachelor’s degree in finance from Hampton University.
The Olympic games in London was the first time Idlette competed on the Olympic level. “It was a great experience,” said Idlette.
Idlette currently holds the Dominican Republic’s national record for the 100-meter hurdles. Confidence is essential to her success as a track runner.
“Confidence is everything,” said Idelette. “Confidence helps in the face of adversity.”
Idlette ran in a qualifying heat for the hurdle with a time of 13.03 seconds. She placed sixth in that heat, but didn’t move on to the next round of the Olympics.
“My performance was not what I expected it to be,” said Idlette.
Duane Ross, Idlette’s former track coach, is now the track coach at North Carolina A&T University and also Idlette’s personal trainer.
He said Idlette is an incredible and rare athlete who can only be limited by herself. He also said Idlette’s work ethic on and off the track is tremendous.
“On the track, she takes her craft very seriously,” said Ross. “She doesn’t like to miss practices and often times will find time to do more.”
He also said, “What’s amazingly admirable about LaVonne is that she spends just as much time reading books as she does practicing jumping hurdles,” said Ross.
