Sanya Richards-Ross Biography

Fast Facts

• Moved from Jamaica to Florida with her family at age 12
• Just before leaving Jamaica, her mother said, "You are a faster than a speeding bullet," and gave Richards a necklace with a bullet pendant that she still wears as a good-luck charm
• Twice named Florida High School Female Athlete of the Year
• Graduated with a 4
• 0 GPA and a National Honor Society membership
• Became a U
• S
• citizen in 2002
• Won Olympic gold in the 4x400m relay at Athens in 2004
• Diagnosed with Behcet's syndrome, an immune-system disease that causes skin lesions, in 2007
• Took home two medals from the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, a gold in the 4x400m relay and a bronze in the 400m
• Her pre-game marriage proposal in 2007 from fiancé Aaron Ross, cornerback for the New York Giants, was televised nationally during halftime by NBC; their 2010 nuptials were featured on the Season 4 finale of Platinum Weddings
• Was Olympic champion in the 400m at the 2012 Olympics in London, and took home a second gold in he 4x400m relay
• Announced her retirement at the 2016 U
• S
• Olympic trials after failing to make her fourth Olympics
• Co-owns an Austin hair salon with her mom and sister