Throughout their junior year at UF, Christian Taylor and Will Claye were known for finishing most meets in first and second place. The 2012 London Olympics were no different.
At the biggest meet of their track and field careers, Taylor and Claye earned gold and silver in the triple jump.
"It is awesome," Claye said. "Christian and I have been going 1-2 for a long time. We have a brotherhood, and jumping against your brother, you go harder than you do with anyone else. It feels like it is just me and Christian out there sometimes, you know. It is an awesome rivalry, and we definitely push each other and help each other."
Taylor used a season-best jump of 17.81 meters to secure first place. Claye was right behind him with his mark of 17.62 meters.
Claye's triple jump silver was not his first Olympic medal. Four days earlier, he took home the bronze in the long jump.
Claye's jump of 8.12 meters secured Florida's first field event medal. Claye's mark also gave the U.S. its first medal in the long jump since 2004, when Dwight Phillips and John Moffitt took gold and silver.
Sprinters Jeff Demps and Tony McQuay grabbed silver medals in the 4x100-meter relay and 4x400-meter relay, respectively.
After just missing a qualifying spot, Demps learned three nights before the opening ceremony that he was chosen to be a part of the 4x100-meter relay pool for Team USA. The last-minute addition came after Mike Rodgers suffered a stress fracture in his left foot.
Demps ran the first leg of the preliminary round, helping his team to a 37.38 mark that broke a 20-year-old American record for the fastest preliminary round.
"I just wanted to come out and have fun and enjoy the moment," Demps said. "There was no pressure, I was just excited."
Although he and Darvis Patton were replaced in the final round by Tyson Gay and Ryan Bailey, Demps still received a silver medal for his efforts.
McQuay won the silver medal by running a season's best 2:57.05 in the finals. Although McQuay kept the team out in front, Angelo Taylor gave up the lead to Ramon Mille of the Bahamas, who ran a 44.10 on the final leg of the race.
"I did my job for the day," McQuay said. "I'm disappointed it wasn't enough. The outcome is not what we wanted, our mission was gold. We got silver, but we have to be blessed with our opportunity today, because a lot of people don't have this opportunity, and God selected us four people to come out here and run this relay."
Novlene Williams-Mills won bronze in the women's 4X400 relay, bringing the UF track and field medal total to six.
Contact Katie Agostin at kagostin@alligator.org.
