Christine Merrill loses race, gains Olympic fame

LONDON — Christine Sonali Merrill knew she might be in trouble when she took 15 strides to the first hurdle in the Olympic 400-meter hurdles preliminaries Sunday instead of her usual 16 and had to lead with her right leg instead of her left.

“I was going too fast,” the UC San Diego alum said.

She slowed over the back half of the race and finished in 57.15 seconds, a season best but not enough to advance to the semifinals.

The early part of her race wasn’t the only thing that was greatly accelerated in London. Her fame was, too – going from a NCAA Division II athlete representing her mother’s homeland of Sri Lanka to an Internet sensation in the time it took NBC to flash a brief clip of her marching in Opening Ceremony.

Apparently captivated by her beauty, more than a few viewers embarked on a cyberspace detective mission to identify the unnamed Sri Lankan athlete shown on NBC. Soon Merrill was included in lists of attractive Olympic athletes, and her Facebook likes and Twitter followers spiked. U-T San Diego’s July 25 profile of her was read online three times as often as any other Olympic-related story.

“I’m not one who likes attention,” said Merrill, whose day job is as a mechanical engineer for Solar Turbines in San Diego. “But it’s great for my team – not only for Sri Lanka but also for my coach (Joey Tosta) and Mizuno, who’s giving me all my gear, and for UCSD.”

Once people discovered her name and Googled it, they indeed found a Christine Merrill.

Christine Merrill, the middle-aged romance novelist from Wisconsin who posted this on her blog:

“I spent most of last week in Anaheim, California, at the RWA ( Romance Writers of America) convention, shaking hands and pushing books on people. I don’t know why I bothered. There was a much easier way to get famous. “The Olympic Opening Ceremonies were held while I was gone. And when this girl walked past the camera the Internet went crazy.”

Merrill the romance novelist posted a photo of Merrill the 24year-old athlete with the caption: “This Christine Merrill is running the 400-meter hurdles for Sri Lanka.”Then she posted a photo of herself with: “This one is not.”

What does the 24-year-old Christine Merrill think?

“I’m just kind of letting it run its course,” she said. “After (the Games), I’ll be able to sit down and think about it. I’m not one who is looking to be famous. I’ve worked really hard to get here, so I guess it’s kind of like a bonus.”Merrill the romance novelist sent Merrill the hurdler a message via Twitter after her race Sunday.

"Congratulations other Christine Merrill on a good run in today's 400m hurdles," it said. "In your honour, I carbo loaded." – UT Sandiego