The pressure of the Olympic Games
can do funny things to people.
Athletes who have dominated their event for years
can find themselves being blinded by the bright lights
of the biggest stage in sport.
Being an Olympic champion isn't just about
being a gifted athlete
and a great competitor, it's about holding your nerve.
There are eight women lined up in Barcelona
for the start of 1992's 100 metres hurdles final.
But one of them was attracting a lot more attention
than the others.
Although the reigning Olympic champion
and world record holder
Yordanka Donkova of Bulgaria
was through to the final,
the world was developing an obsession
with the young American named Gail Devers.
It was a fascination
that would last a decade
and feature as many desperate lows as dizzying highs.
In 1992, the 25-year-old from Seattle
was a specialist hurdler,
but had dazzled the Spanish crowds on the first Saturday
of the track-and-field programme.
She raced to gold in the 100 metres, upsetting the form book
to win one of the closest finals
in Olympic Games history.
But for Devers, an Olympic Games 100 metre final
was a just a warm-up for the main event.
In the hurdles, her closest rival,
Russia's Lyudmila Narozhilenko,
pulled a hamstring before the semifinal.
It was looking good for Devers -
she cruised through to the final.
But the path to Olympic gold is never easy
and, in the case of the hurdles,
there are quite literally
a great many obstacles to overcome.
It's a good start.
But look at Devers.
Devers is pulling away now with that great finish.
Devers is moving fast.
Devers has hit the hurdle! She's down!
Patoulidou, it looks like, took the gold medal.
But it's got to be heartbreaking for Gail Devers,
and she doesn't get her Olympic double.
Until that fateful final hurdle,
Devers had run the perfect race.
Statisticians later told her
that she was on course to smash the world record.
The Greek champion Voula Patoulidou
began her celebrations,
but the world wanted to know
what had happened to Devers.
The greatest hurdler in the world
was left diving over the line in despair
at what should have been her finest moment.
Devers said later that it just wasn't meant to be.
Sadly for Devers,
her Olympic hurdles heartbreak had only just begun.
Four years later in Atlanta,
Devers was attracting attention as usual,
and not just because of the talons
on the end of her fingers.
Again, she was favourite for the 100 metre hurdles.
She had won the World Championships in '93 and '95
and was in excellent form.
Again, she won gold in the 100 metres sprint
in the closest ever final - a real nail-biter.
And another gold in the relay.
In her favourite event,
the stage was set for Devers to banish the ghosts of 1992.
She made it to the final without any problems.
Unlike 1992, there was no great drama this time.
Devers simply wasn't fast enough.
She got over all the hurdles but managed only fourth
behind a European top three.
It wasn't her day.
When you're jinxed, you're jinxed.
Fast-forward four years to the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games.
Devers was 33 in 2000,
but was the fastest woman that year
and won the world championships yet again in 1999.
But in the semifinals,
she couldn't get to the end of the course.
And Devers running easily here in this semifinal.
And she's just pulled up! Devers has pulled up!
Has that Olympic hurdle curse struck again?
Gail Devers ended her career
in the United States Olympic Games Hall Of Fame
with three gold medals.
But she was left empty-handed in her favourite event,
leaving the rest of us scratching our heads
trying to work out whether one of the strangest
Olympic Games careers
was a huge success or a bitter disappointment.