Brilliant speed lifts ex-Olympic sprinter Tayna Lawrence to FIU Hall of Fame
Tayna Lawrence was about eight years old and living in her native Jamaica when she made a life-changing discovery.
She was fast.
Once she came upon that realization, she started challenging everyone to a race – even on the streets.
“Even today,” said Lawrence, who is now 49 years old, “I still have bruises and cuts on my knees from falling on the asphalt while racing barefoot.”
Those cuts and bruises are now a badge of honor. She also has some other badges of sorts – three Olympic medals from her days as a sprinter representing Jamaica.
On Sept. 12, Lawrence will pick up another honor as she will be inducted into FIU’s Sports Hall of Fame. She will be joined by former NFL star T.Y. Hilton; ex-women’s basketball coach Cindy Russo; and Karl Kremser and Munga Eketebi, who both left their mark on FIU’s men’s soccer program.
Lawrence moved to South Florida with her family in time for her sophomore year at North Miami Beach High School. Lawrence won a 200-meter state title at NMB, and she was keen on continuing her track career at the University of Alabama.
However, her mom had other ideas.
“My mother told me, ‘No, no, no. You’re not going that far away,’” Lawrence said. “I was devastated because I really wanted to be on my own for college.”
Unhappy at first, Lawrence admits that things worked out well for her at FIU, where she set 10 school records and became a seven-time All-American.
Even today, nearly 30 years later, Lawrence still holds FIU indoor records in the 60 meters; 200 meters and as part of the 4X400 relay team. She also holds four outdoors records: 100 meters; 4X100 relay; 4X200 relay; and 4X400 relay.
Lawrence’s crowning achievement came at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens as she won a gold medal for running the first leg of the 4X100 relay team.
“That weight is always heavy,” Lawrence said of the burden put on her as the opening runner. “It was my responsibility to get us to a great start and to make a great pass of the baton.”
That Jamaican relay team included Sherone Simpson on the second leg, followed by Aileen Bailey and Veronica Campbell Brown.
Even though their busy careers as professional track stars left them little time to practice their baton passes, the Jamaican team made it work.
“We had a very good relationship,” Lawrence said of the women on the relay team. “That’s why we were able to get that gold. We had a bond and cohesiveness on and off the track.
“There was a lot of pressure. But you just had to push it to the back of your head. You can’t allow it to weigh you down.”
Those four women did that, and they earned two parades that summer – one in Kingston and one in Montego Bay.
They also got a dinner at the president’s mansion in Jamaica.
It was such a special moment because it wasn’t until 2021 – 17 years later – that Jamaica finally won the 4X100 women’s Olympic relay again.
Ironically, University of Miami sprinter Lauryn Williams was on the United States 4X100 relay team of 2004 that lost to Jamaica.
Besides Athens, Lawrence’s other two Olympic medals came from the Sydney Games in 2000. She won silver for the 100 meters, and she won another silver for the 4X100 relay.
Lawrence said the 100-meter medal was special because it was her first. She actually won bronze on race day, but her medal was later upgraded after American Marion Jones was stripped of her gold due to a doping scandal.
“It was a messed-up race (due to the Jones situation), but it’s still dear to my heart,” Lawrence said. “The bronze I received that day felt like a gold because it was unbelievable.
“From Jamaica to America, it was everything I had ever worked for, and it made up for all the times that I wanted to give up or thought it would never happen. That was the race of my career.”
Lawrence now lives in Port St. Lucie with her husband, former pro soccer player Roderick Gayle, and their two children: a son Taylon Gayle; and a daughter Tajani Gayle.
Taylon plays soccer as a freshman at the University of Massachusetts, and Tajani, 15, is also a soccer player – much to the disappointment of their mother.
“I put them in track, but they hated it,” Lawrence said. “My son was really fast. But, at age nine, he told me: ‘Mom, I hate track. I’m only doing it because of you.’
“That shattered my heart.”
The good news for Lawrence is that she’s going back to Jamaica to have a big 50th-birthday bash on Sept. 17.
Five days prior to that, of course, she will be at FIU with her husband and daughter to celebrate her Hall of Fame induction. She will be part of just the second Hall of Fame class in FIU history.
“I had never heard of FIU doing a Hall of Fame,” Lawrence said. “I was shocked when I got the call.
“But it was a really pleasant surprise.”
This story was originally published August 26, 2025 at 12:52 PM.