Sanya Richards-Ross (née Richards; born February 26, 1985) is a retired Jamaican-American track and field athlete, who competed internationally for the United States in the 400-meter sprint. Her notable accolades in this event include being the 2012 Olympic champion, 2009 world champion, 2008 Olympic bronze medalist, and 2005 world silver medalist. With her victory in 2012, she became the second American woman to win the 400 meters at the Olympic Games and the first American woman to earn multiple global 400-meter titles. At this distance, Richards-Ross is also a six-time U.S. national champion (2003, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, and 2012). A formidable competitor throughout her career, Richards-Ross ranked number one in the world from 2005 to 2009 and again in 2012 in the 400 meters. She set the American 400-meter record of 48.70 seconds in 2006 and was named the IAAF 2006 Female World Athlete of the Year, an honor she received again in 2009. Richards-Ross also holds the record for the most sub-50 second sprints in the history of the event, with a career total of 49 times. In addition to her individual achievements, she won three consecutive Olympic gold medals in the 4 × 400 meters relay at the 2004, 2008, and 2012 Summer Olympics, as well as five total relay medals from multiple World Athletics Championships. Following an injury at the 2016 U.S. Olympic trials, Richards-Ross retired from the sport and subsequently joined the NBC broadcasting team as a track and field analyst. She published her memoir Chasing Grace: What the Quarter Mile has Taught Me about God and Life in 2017. In October 2021, Bravo announced that Richards-Ross was joining the fourteenth season of The Real Housewives of Atlanta. Early life Richards-Ross was born on February 26, 1985, in Kingston, Jamaica to Archie and Sharon Richards. She began running at the age of seven and represented her school Vaz Prep in annual youth championships. When Richards-Ross was twelve years old, her family immigrated to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, so that she could attend an American high school, increasing her chances of obtaining an athletic scholarship to an American university. Richards-Ross was a 2002 graduate of St. Thomas Aquinas High School, where she finished with a cumulative 4.0 GPA and was pegged the 2002 Gatorade National High School Girls Track and Field Athlete of the Year and also the USA Track and Field Youth Athlete of the Year.