Past Olympic hurdles champ Harper Nelson aims for Tokyo

American 100m hurdler Dawn Harper Nelson, the 2008 Olympic champion and 2012 Olympic runner-up who retired to have a baby, said she is training for next year's Tokyo Olympics.

The 35-year-old from suburban St. Louis was second to Australia's Sally Pearson at the 2017 World Championships but missed this year's meet after giving birth to a baby girl last April.

Harper Nelson stepped away from the sport in September 2018 but worked out during her pregnancy and returned to the track a month after giving birth.

"I still think I have it and I can kill it," Harper Nelson said in a posting on the US Olympic website.

"All the women in my life had said when they were moms they stopped their dream. Once I had my daughter, I looked at her and I remember thinking, 'I still have this yearn to run.'
"And I refuse for her to say, when she looked at my career, 'My mom always said she wanted to keep running, but she stopped because she had me.'"
"I really had a moment where I sat down and kind of cried. I was thinking, 'Do you ever really get that back? Is it possible?'
"We slowly just gradually did things and gradually got myself back."