PALMDALE – Mayor Jim Ledford at Wednesday’s council meeting honored Olympic Medalist Lashinda Demus by proclaiming today (Thursday, Sept. 6) as Lashinda Demus Day in Palmdale.
Demus won a silver medal in the women’s 400-meter hurdles during the 2012 London Olympics.
The 29-year-old Palmdale resident was introduced to the track at the age of two by her mother; and her admiration and love for running propelled her to a #1 world ranking in the 400-meter hurdles.
Demus attended Long Beach Wilson High School, where she set the national high school record in the girl’s 300-meter hurdles in 2001. After high school, she attended the University of South Carolina and was a member of the school’s first National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) team when the women’s track and field team won the 2002 NCAA outdoor national championship.
In 2004, Demus turned professional after competing in the Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. Following the games, she earned the first of two national titles in the 400-meter hurdles.
In 2009, Demus set world best times in Monaco, London and Crete, Greece, and then went on to secure the women’s 400-meter hurdles world title and the American record during the 2011 world championships in Daegu, Korea.
Demus most recently completed the 2012 Olympic Games in London, where she won the silver medal with a finish time of 52.77 seconds.
“Lashinda has brought honor and prestige to the City of Palmdale through her exemplary competitive spirit, dedication, physical conditioning, enthusiasm, and hard work, as well as serving as a role model and inspiration to the youth of the Antelope Valley,” reads the City proclamation in her honor.
“I am absolutely amazed at having my own day,” Demus said Wednesday. “When everything is going good Palmdale is always here to support me, when I look up and I stumble over that hurdle… Palmdale is there as well.”
“Ups and downs, the city of Palmdale has always been behind me, I would never forget that,” Demus continued.
