When 23-year-old Nike athlete and Georgetown native Melissa Jefferson arrived at Hayward Field at the University of Oregon for the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in June, she was determined to secure her spot on the women’s track and field team rather than qualifying as an alternate as she did the year before.
As a witness to Jefferson’s second-place win that earned her the position, her father Melvin Jefferson described the experience as “So awesome, I couldn’t put it into words how grateful I am to have been alive to see it.”
>Without Jefferson donating her stem cells to her father in 2018 when Melvin needed a bone marrow transplant, he would not have survived long enough to celebrate his daughter’s victory.
Passionate about running since she was 5 years old, Jefferson said working with her coach Carl Goodman at Coastal Carolina University in Conway, “Really allowed me to grow and then shaped me into who I am today. I just want to carry what I learned from there on throughout my life and see where it takes me,” Jefferson said. “One day, one practice, one meet at a time.”
Melvin added that while watching his daughter’s first Olympic performance on Aug. 9, which resulted in Jefferson earning a gold medal in the women’s 4×100 meter relay and a bronze for the women’s 100-meter, the family was sitting on the second row to catch a close-up of Jefferson handing the baton off to team member Twanisha Terry and despite rainy conditions, crossing the finish line clocking in at 10.92, the sixth fastest time of Jefferson’s career. When the surrounding crowd, who were mostly cheering for other countries, could see the USA was going to win, Melvin said they started applauding wildly for Jefferson and her family.
“Thank you to all my supporters all over the world,” Jefferson said of her win. “I’ve gone through so many changes in the last year and at times it was very hard to get up every day and keep showing up for myself. However, I was surrounded with love and support every step of the way. I have been speaking of this moment since August of last year and to now be living in it, I couldn’t be more happy with what is to come for me and my training partners.”
To learn more about Jefferson’s journey, including a celebratory hometown parade on Georgetown’s Front Street scheduled for Oct. 12 and her wedding in March 2025, follow her on Instagram @_melissaj19.
By Sarah Rose
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