Who is Andre De Grasse's wife? Sprinter Nia Ali won Olympic medal months after having baby
Canadian sprinter Andre De Grasse was the star of the men's 200m semifinals race at the Tokyo Olympics. He finished first, his time clocking at 19.73 seconds which is a new Canadian record. The 200m final is scheduled for August 4 where he's up against fellow Canadian Aaron Brown, Jereem Richards of Trinidad and Tobago, Rasheed Dwyer of Jamaica, and US runners Noah Lyles, Erriyon Knighton, Kenny Bednarek, Joseph Fahnbulleh.
Tokyo is De Grasse's second stint at the Olympics. He was 21 when he participated in the Rio Games in 2016 and won a bronze and silver. He was the youngest runner in the lineup and not much to look at while being swarmed by muscular athletes flexing their goods. However, he became of the one most remembered athletes that year for the camaraderie he shared with co-competitor Usain Bolt. They smiled at each other as they crossed the finish line while the other runners were just trying hard to catch up. The photos and videos from the said race went viral on the internet leaving everyone with a smile on their faces.
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Who is Andre De Grasse?
Andre De Grasse, 26, started running track seriously only at the age of 17 after his coach Tony Sharp recognized his potential for greatness during a high school event. He ran with borrowed running spikes and baggy basketball shorts but his dedication to the sport earned him a scholarship, and the rest is history. Grasse created history at the Rio Olympics becoming the first Canadian athlete to win medals in all three sprint events. He was named Canada's Male Athlete of the Year and was awarded the Lionel Conacher Award after his Olympics stint.
De Grasse dominated headlines in his home country as well as the US after winning the 100m and 200m in a span of 45 minutes at the NCAA Championships in 2015 which he finished in 9.7 and 19.5 seconds respectively. The same year he became the first Canadian since Bruny Surin in 1999 to finish a 100m race in under 10 seconds to win the Pac-12 Championship. In the 2014 Canadian Championships, he finished second and fourth in the 100m and 200m races respectively. He was a double medalist at the 2013 Pan American Junior Championships where he copped the silver and bronze and was crowned Canadian junior champion in both races.
Who is Andre De Grasse's wife Nia Ali?
Andre De Grasse is married to American hurdler Nia Ali who specializes in 100m hurdles, heptathlon, and other events. The two sprint stars are possibly the world's fastest couple. The Pennsylvania track star had given birth to her son Titus Maximus in 2015, just 15 months before she was scheduled to participate in the Rio Olympics. She went on to cop the silver medal in the 100-m hurdle race despite all the skepticism that surrounded her participation by people who believed that being a mother was equivalent to career suicide.
Ali is sponsored by Nike and back in 2015 they docked her pay for sitting out the outdoor season. “It was like, ‘This is career suicide. What are you doing? You’re just taking off!’"Ali recalled. “Some people even asked me, ‘Does this mean you’re done with track?’ I was like, ‘Why do I have to be done with track'. It was so bizarre. It was almost like people thought it was over for me," she said. People who questioned her were clearly underestimating her powers, this was the same athlete who had told distinguished college coaches, “You don’t know me now, but you will. I plan to win nationals in hurdles and I want to come to your school."
“If I say I’m going to do something, I want to mean it,” Ali said. 10 months after Titus was born she and fellow American Brianna Williams won the 60-m hurdles at the 2016 World Indoor Championships and in the next few months she qualified for the Olympics where she won a medal. A photograph of her circling the track with an American flag draped over her shoulders and her carrying Titus in her arms went viral back then. “It was really special just being able to quiet the haters and prove to myself that having a baby wasn’t going to hold me back,” Ali said. “It reinforced that what I’m saying, the message that I’m putting out there, is true," she added.
Ali had decided to participate in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, however, when the Covid-19 pandemic forced the event to be postponed, she lost faith that it would ever take place. She and De Grasse decided to have a third child even if that meant Ali wouldn't be able to go for gold in Tokyo. “I thought it was a gamble worth taking. At that time, I wasn’t really confident that the Olympics would move forward this year. I didn’t even see it as a 50-50 chance, honestly. I really didn’t think it was going to happen," she told Yahoo sports.
The Tokyo Olympics are underway but Ali does not have any regrets that she had to sit this one out. "I want people to understand you can balance track and motherhood. Having a baby doesn’t have to hold you back from achieving your goals," she said. She is not yet ready to retire from her career as an athlete. “I’m really excited for these next three years and I do plan to compete,” she said. “I’m going to go after some new goals and try to keep getting better.”