For Howard's Oliver, Great Leaps Forward

By Amy Shipley
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, July 3, 2008

EUGENE, Ore., July 2 -- David Oliver couldn't believe the turn his life had taken. He had graduated from Howard University with a bachelor's degree in marketing for this? He found himself bunking in an Orlando house with three other track athletes, one of whom was sleeping in the living room. They were so broke, they never turned on the air conditioning or used the dishwasher.

Oliver recalls buying five-pound bags of rice at Wal-Mart and pancake mix that required only water, and eating cereal all day long. He drove a rickety 1992 Chevy that sometimes got him to practice without stalling, but usually didn't. And then, once he arrived for his daily training under legendary, old-school coach Brooks Johnson, things got really tough. During Oliver's first practice under Johnson in 2004, the coach demanded nine 300-yard sprints, broken up into three sets.

After each set, Oliver stepped to the side of the track and vomited.

But, Oliver noted Wednesday, he finished the practice.

Four years later, Oliver sat at a microphone midway through the U.S. Olympic trials in track and field, introduced as the one of the top 110-meter hurdlers in the world and the favorite to claim one of three Olympic team slots in a competition that starts with Saturday's qualifying and ends with Sunday's final. Oliver has posted three of the world's top five times in the event this season, including 12.95 seconds in May. That's second to the world record of 12.87 run by Cuban Dayron Robles.

Oliver now lives in a comfortable townhouse, drives a Jaguar and can afford to eat out. (Some Johnson-devised workouts, however, still leave him searching for garbage cans near the track.) At just after 9 a.m., he bounded out of a hotel elevator on his way to Wednesday's news conference and hugged three media officials from USA Track and Field, beaming all the while. "Every day," he said to explain the explosion of energy, "is a celebration to me."

Allen Johnson, the Lake Braddock High graduate and hurdling legend who is seeking a place on his fourth Olympic team, sees a bit of himself -- his old self -- in Oliver, who at 26 is 11 years younger.

"Like me, in his early years on the circuit, he didn't always get his just due," Johnson said. "I assume that's given him a lot of motivation, a lot of drive, so that when he's out there he can't be denied. He's showed the whole world he belongs."

From the beginning, it wasn't a smooth path. It never crossed Oliver's mind that the hurdles might be an event for him until he found some old boxes in his family's home in Denver. Inside, he discovered worn track spikes, yellowed media guides, race numbers and awards.

Turns out, his mother, Brenda Chambers, not only competed in the 400 hurdles, but also made it all the way to the Olympic trials.

The dusty discovery provided Oliver, 12 or 13 at the time, with the first glimpse into her success. As a University of Colorado junior, she won all-American honors and competed at the 1980 U.S. Olympic trials that took place here at Hayward Field. She didn't win a medal, so she didn't figure it was worth mentioning to the three children she raised largely on her own. A single mother, she has worked at UPS for 23 years.

When her son inquired about her career, and the sport, she finally filled him in.

"What's the shortest event they have?" Oliver recalled asking.

"The 100," she said.

"They don't have a 40?" he said. "I won't make it 100 meters."

By his sophomore year at Denver East High, Oliver was on the track team, but he was also a football player. At Howard, he committed himself to both, playing wide receiver in the fall and running hurdles in the spring. As it turned out, he preferred track. He liked that he controlled the outcome. A four-time Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference outdoor champion, he posted a collegiate personal-best of 13.55 as a senior.

At an indoor meet in 2004, Oliver met American record holder Dominique Arnold, who urged him to consider track as a career. Later that winter, Arnold introduced him to Allen Johnson.

Oliver asked Johnson, the 1996 Olympic gold medal winner, for his autograph. Johnson, however, declined. "He wouldn't give it to me because he said, 'I'm going to see you at every meet,' " Oliver said.

Said Johnson, "I knew he would be as good as he is."

With stars seemingly aligned behind him, Oliver sent an e-mail to Brooks Johnson, asking for a place in his training group. Johnson welcomed him, almost immediately helping him devise a three-year plan leading up to this summer's Olympics in Beijing. It basically went like this: In 2005, get experience; in 2006, get better; and in 2007, build on all of that.

Everything went largely according to plan. In 2006, he finished fifth at the World Athletics Final, made decent money at European meets and earned a No. 9 world ranking. By 2007 he had signed a Nike contract, but ran into hamstring problems. Though he dropped his personal best to 13.14, he bowed out of the August world championships in the semifinal round.

"Those are the things that drive you," Oliver said, "the disappointments."

Oliver has dropped two surprises this season, winning the U.S. indoor title in February and then posting his sub-13 time in Doha, Qatar, in May.

"It's extremely exciting that he even decided to try to the hurdles," said Chambers, who plans to fly here Friday from her home. "There are really no words for how far he has come. It's really beyond exciting."