She will always be referred to as Canada's golden girl of the hurdles.

Ten years after setting the National record, her name is still at the top of the list for the 100 metre hurdles. Talking about Perdita Felicien - a World champion, Olympic competitor, Pan Am Games medallist and winner of enough awards to carry a discussion for a long time.

Felicien will headline the 45

She grew up in Pickering, attended Glengrove Public and graduated from Pine Ridge Secondary. At the age of 19, just five years after starting hurdling, she earned a full scholarship to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

It was at Illinois that she earned All American honours and ran the fastest time in the NCAA as first year student. Felicien would go on to become Female Athlete of the Year in the NCAA.

In 2003, Felicien won gold in the 100 metre hurdles at the IAAF World Outdoor Championship. A year later, she won the IAAF World Indoor title. She has represented Canada at five World Championships and Olympics in 2000 and 2004. She missed the 2008 Olympics with an injury,

Her personal best times: 12.46 seconds for the 100 metre hurdles (outdoors) and 7.75 seconds (indoors) for the 60 metre hurdles.

Felicien not only excelled in sport, but also the classroom. She earned Academic All-Big Ten and Academic All-American distinctions while at Illinois. In 2004, Felicien graduated with honours with a Bachelor of Science degree in Kinesiology. She has since added Journalism to her academic accomplishments.

Going into high school Felicien had given up track, afraid of losing, and scared of not achieving the same success she had at Glengrove Public School in Pickering.

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