UCF head track and field coach Caryl Smith Gilbert has been named the jumps coach of Team USA at the 2009 IAAF World Outdoor Championships in Berlin, Germany, USA Track & Field announced recently. The event will run this year from Aug. 15-23 at the Berlin Olympic Stadium.
“It is a tremendous honor to represent UCF as part of the Team USA staff for the 2009 World Outdoor Championships,” said Smith Gilbert. “The opportunity to work with some of the nation’s best athletes who will be representing our country in Berlin is something that I cherish.”
At the most recent World Outdoor Championships in 2007 in Osaka, Japan, Team USA tied the all-time World Championships record for gold medals with 14, matching its feat from 2005, and tied the American all-time medal tally at a World Outdoor Championships with 26. In Osaka, Team USA led a medal table in which a record 46 countries won medals.
Chandra Cheeseborough of Tennessee State University will serve as the head coach for Team USA at the event while the other assistant coaches will be Tonya Buford-Bailey (sprints/hurdles), Wake Forest’s Annie Bennett (distance) and Virginia’s Carrie Lane (throwers).
The World Championships will be the first major international track and field event in the Berlin Olympic Stadium since the 1936 Olympic Games when Jesse Owens won four gold medals for Team USA.