National Track & Field Hall of Fame Q&A: Sandra Farmer-Patrick

In advance of the National Track & Field Hall of Fame induction ceremony on December 7 at USATF Night of Legends, USATF interviewed Class of 2019 inductees on their athletic careers and legacies.
 
Today’s feature: Sandra Farmer-Patrick
 
How did you get started in track and field and when did you first realize you'd be good at it?
 
I was raised by my great aunt, Beta Framer, and she was a traditional Pentecostal type of parent, so it was all about church. You could not compete or do any activities but church on Sunday. They had these meets called the Colgate Women's Games in New York, and all the competitions were on Sunday. Somehow one of her church sisters had a niece who competed in these and my aunt allowed me to go to one. I ran and I laced second overall out of a bunch of kids in the 60-meter hurdles. I never went back, and later I received notice I had qualified to the finals in Madison Square Garden. That was on a Saturday, so I could run.
 
When I went there, a coach named Don Johnson, my coach, noticed I had no equipment or attire. I ran in Pro-Keds high tops. Later, one of my church sisters called and said she was going to track practice and asked if I wanted to go. It was a big ordeal to call my mom and get it approved and go to practice, because everything was about school, church and being at home. Basically, you weren't allowed to go out and do things.
 
I went with them to practice and then just kept running and running and running. It was great. They took me to Penn Relays, and I ran a 55 second relay split, and then on the next relay I ran a 54 split. The next day they took me to a meet in Germantown, Pennsylvania, and I ran the 100, 200 and 400 and did well. I overheard one of my coaches say, "If she runs any faster, I don't know what to do with her."
 
The Colgate Women's Games gave me a lot of opportunities and helped me win a lot of scholarship money. It allowed me to go to a private high school.
 
What was your college experience like?
 
My mom had a high school education and she knew it was important for me to be successful. She was very successful in New York City, owned her own home. She and I didn't know very much about athletics, and track gave me a way to get out of the house and socialize. I got to go to practice and be around a lot of people. My choice came down to three schools. I thought I would be in New York the rest of my life. Coach Johnson said I had to go to college. He told me I had to pick between three and I landed on Arizona.
 
My freshman year there was a great experience. It was a whole new world and I was like a kid in a candy store because I had been so sheltered. My mom didn't understand the whole track life and experience. I did well and qualified to go to the NCAAs, and I had a great group of girls around me from the Colorado Flyers. I didn't know how important nationals were, so I took off to Northern California to hang out with friends. I called the coach a week before to see when I needed to be back for nationals, and he told me I wasn't going because I hadn't been there for practice. I loved being in California and I reached out to Florence Griffith Joyner, who I had met at a conference meet. I connected with her and Bob Kersee and trained with Bobby for a few months and did summer school at UCLA. Later he told me he didn't want me coming out to the track until I had decided if I really wanted to run. He said I was just going through the motions.
 
School was starting and one of the schools, Cal State Los Angeles, was on the quarter system and they started a little bit later. It was the only school I could go to at the time. I went there and overall I had a great experience. I ran with the Howard sisters and a bunch of other great athletes. Everyone knew about the women in the zebra uniforms. I had to commute to get to and from school, which was really challenging. My last year they got dorms, so I got to live there and see what it was like to be part of a community my senior year, and that was special.
 
You competed in the inaugural women's 400-meter hurdles at the Olympics. What did that mean to you to know that you were a part of that first group of women to run that race?
 
Recently I was in Doha, and the gold medalist from that race in 1984, Nawal El Moutawakel from Morocco, was there and it reminded me of 1984. I remember being at the Games and making the final and thinking wow, this is the first time this race is being contested. I took eighth place. My mom was excited, but I didn't want to talk about it because I went in thinking I could win it. I became friends with Nawal there and that friendship has remained very dear to me.
 
What was your prime motivation to change from representing Jamaica to the United States?
 
I lived in the United States and at the time I was dating and about to be married to David Patrick, who also ran the 400H. Sponsorship at the time was very different. Living in America it was really hard to get a sponsor to support you. Now it has changed and is more global. I reached out to Jamaica to ask what kind of resources they had to support me for training and continuing my career. The president of their federation said they really had nothing. Since I had lived in the U.S. for so long, and I ate, slept and thought American, so it was a natural thing to do to run for the country. I knew it would be challenging to make the American team, but knew if I made it, I would be in a better place to challenge for a medal or a higher place. I don't regret making the switch. It was the best thing I could have done. My commitment level went up and I was very dedicated. Everything went to another level because you have to go to the U.S. Olympic Trials ready. You have to be well-rounded not just physically, but also mentally.
 
You were known for wearing stylish and flashy outfits on the track. What was your motivation to wear something different from other competitors?
 
I came from a household where I remember one time coming home with a bit of lipstick on and my great aunt wiping it off and saying I couldn't go see my uncle, who was a preacher, with that on my lips. No jewelry, none of that was part of my upbringing. Going out to California added to the flash and glamor I was exposed to. I was just trying to think of a way to make track more entertaining. I was able to engage the crowd in Europe by being different and unique. I had gone to a dance recital and saw the outfits they had, which were really neat. One of them had a sheer skirt on over her outfit. I found that designer and got some ideas, and she designed my first skirt. I loved it because the sheer material over my competition tights kind of paid homage to the skirts I wore when I was first competing, and I thought my great aunt would have more appreciation for this being classy and not exposing everything. It went from being a sheer outfit over some Danskin shorts to real glitz and glamor.
 
I was inspired by Kristi Yamaguchi's outfit that she wore in the Olympics and I tracked down her designer and she hand-beaded all my uniforms from my sponsor at the time. They paid for the outfits for me to be unique and different. I remember most that in Europe my skirt had Velcro, so when I won and did my victory lap, I could snap it off and wave it to the crowd or even throw it to them if needs be. That was my showmanship and part of my connection to the crowd. I had many requests in Europe to wear the skirt and it made me feel good as an entertainer-athlete.
 
What do you remember most about your race with Sally Gunnell at Stuttgart in 1993?
 
Two things. I remember getting off the last hurdle and saying, "I've got this race." I still felt strong and I knew I had the race won. If she had passed me or even come close at the 10^th hurdle it would have been a different race. To this day I say that it was the best race of my life because when I crossed the finish line, I couldn't have given a tenth of a second more. It was all I had.
 
Second, I remember being very tired and feeling like I was such a disappointment. Bobby expected excellence and perfection and I felt like I had failed. I was laying on the ground and I heard him yell my name and tell me to get up and take a victory lap. I got up and took that lap.
 
What were your highest and lowest moments in the sport outside Olympic and world medals?
 
My lowest point was when I decided to run for the U.S. and got disqualified at the 1988 Olympic Trials for a lane violation in the rain. If I had stayed with Jamaica, I had a sure spot on their Olympic team. It was the biggest blow of my life because I felt like I was a woman without a country at that time. My husband, David, was fourth in his race at the Trials. It was very close for second through fourth and they gave him a little flag and told him he was third and he took a victory lap. Then they flashed the results up on the screen and he looked up and counted and he was fourth, so he put the flag down. Both of us didn't make the Olympic team that year.
 
My high? In 1989 I was undefeated. Usually the year after the Games there isn't much going on in track and field. I made it my Olympic year. My husband and I won the World Cup that year. I used that year to establish myself and it was a solid year throughout. I felt like I could do nothing wrong that year. As an example, I was at a meet in Monaco and went to the casino, and when I was down to my last coin, I won big on a slot machine, I won $2,000. That was a lot of money!
 
Did you have any idols or mentors in the sport, or any athletes you were really close to?
 
Jackie Joyner-Kersee and Florence Griffith-Joyner. That was because of my relationship with Bob Kersee. Florence was actually a godmother to my daughter, Sierra. I didn't really idolize anyone because I felt like I was on par with everyone. I didn't grow up watching sports, so it was really a learning curve for me.
 
How did track and field prepare you for later life?
 
In a lot of different ways. I feel like I am one of the best parents there is. My kids, they're my life. Some of the challenges I have had, the obstacles I overcome, I share those stories. We talk all the time. My son always tells his sister, "You gotta have some struggles, you gotta have a story. You can't have a story without the struggles."
 
One thing I did when I was on maternity leave, I knew the importance of the transition and school, so I went and got my master's degree. Anyone who knows me knows education is huge. I had to help take care of my mom, and I took the initiative to take a clinical assistant class and get certified and learned how to care for the elderly in so many ways. Later on, my first job apart from doing speaking and clinics, I wanted to see what it was like going out and working for someone else. My friends didn't think I could do it, but that first job seemed like it was created for me. I'm always up for a challenge, always wanting to learn more. I was able to transition pretty nicely when my kids were ready to be more independent.
 
What was your reaction when you heard you had been elected to the Hall of Fame?
 
When they first called me, I didn't really believe it, I was shocked. I thought my time had expired. I thought I would be calm, but halfway through the call I started screaming in joy. It is such an honor, like an exclamation mark behind my career.
 
I grew up in New York City running at the Armory every single weekend before it became the facility it is today, and now I am being inducted into the Hall of Fame that is located there, where my career started.