Félix Sánchez
Félix Sánchez at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin
Félix Sánchez ( born August 30, 1977 in New York City ) is a Dominican hurdler.
The son of immigrants from the Dominican Republic to the United States began as a teenager with baseball, however, came after an injury to athletics. Only since 1999, he started for the Dominican Republic on 400 meter hurdles, he saw for himself no chance to come to the U.S. team. So he was able to attend the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, but he did not come across the semi-finals of the 400 meters hurdles also.
Only in the post- Olympic season his star on one of the world's top hurdler. At the 2001 World Championships in Edmonton psychology student won his first gold medal. His personal best he scored the title at the 2003 World Championships in Paris / Saint- Denis with 47.25 s, one of the best times ever run.
Losses experienced Sánchez only on the 400-meter flat track over the hurdles he remained unbeaten for years, and so the Olympic gold medal at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens was already scheduled. No one could seriously endanger him, and so he was confident Olympic champion. His superiority over the competition was comparable to the major U.S. hurdler in the 1970s and 1980s, Edwin Moses.
From winning the first World Championship title he wore a battery-powered red bracelet that flashes during the race. Immediately before the start Sánchez turned each one flashing. With the bracelet he won between 2001 and 2004 43 runs in series, last Olympic race in Athens. He decided then to now run without strap, and lost on 3 September 2004 in Brussels as part of the Golden League prompt his first race for more than three years.
The post-Olympic season of 2005 was marked by injuries, and Sánchez therefore could not maintain its level of performance in recent years. At the World Championships in Helsinki in 2005, he still fought his way to the final before, but withdrew after a few meters already a muscle injury in his right leg and had to abandon the race. Moreover, he then had to undergo surgery because of calcium deposits in his right foot.
On July 26, 2006 Sanchez made his comeback in the Central American and Caribbean Games in the Colombian Cartagena de Indias. His first race in Europe after about a year, he played on 18 August 2006 in Zurich ( 49.72 s, 8th place). At the 2007 World Championships in Osaka, he again showed almost old class and won silver in 48.01 s at the Olympic Summer Games 2012 in London Sánchez could repeat his success from 2004 and was with a time of 47.63 seconds in the 400 m Olympic champion hurdles.
He has a contest weight of 73 kg at a height of 1.78 m.