User:Niccaro/Neil Gardner

Neil Anthony Gardner, born December 8, 1974 in Kingston, Jamaica to parents Lloyd and Viris Gardner, was a former Jamaican athlete who specialized in the 400 meters hurdles event. As a junior athlete (under 20 years of age) Gardner found much success at the Inter-Secondary School Sports Association National Boys’ Championships where he was awarded the Victor Ludorum (Champion Athlete) three years in a row, 1991 – 1993. Gardner also excelled in the CARIFTA Games, winning several medals between 1988 and 1993.

In 1993 Gardner was awarded a track and field scholarship to the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan to compete in the Jumps and Hurdles. While at Michigan, Gardner won 3 Big Ten titles and was runner-up on six occasions. In his junior year 1996, Gardner won the NCAA Outdoor Championship track and field 400m hurdle championship title in a time of 49.27 seconds. Later that year he went on to represent Jamaica in the 1996 Olympic games in Atlanta, Georgia where he was a semi-finalist in the 400m hurdle event. Gardner ran 48.59 seconds in the preliminaries and was the 6th fastest qualifier overall for the semifinals. Gardner ran 48.30 seconds in his semifinal heat, placing fifth in a four way photo finish, just missing the fourth place qualifying spot by 0.02 seconds. The second, third and fourth place finishers each was credited with the same time of 48.28 seconds. His time would have placed him third in the other semi-final and would have guaranteed him a spot in the final. Had Gardner competed in any other Olympic Game, in any other year, his time would have not only qualified him for the finals, but would have won on many occasions. In 1997 Gardner went on to become the first person in the history of the NCAA to win the NCAA championship titles in both the 400m hurdle event (outdoors) as well as the 55m hurdle event (indoors), which he did in a time of 7.18 seconds. In 2001, Gardner was a semi-finalist in the 400 meters hurdles at the World Championships in Edmonton, Canada again representing his native, Jamaica.

His personal best time of 48.30 in the 400m hurdles at the Olympic game in 1996, ranked Gardner among the top 10 performers of all time for the NCAA as well as the Central American and Caribbean region. This time was also a varsity record for the University of Michigan. Gardner is ranked 6th among Jamaican hurdlers of all time.

Academic Years
Gardner received a full athletic scholarship to attend the University of Michigan in 1993. Gardner graduated from Michigan with a 3.24 GPA in Biochemistry in December 1997. Gardner then returned to Jamaica in January 1998 where he competed professionally in track and field until 2005. Gardner was the first recipient of a scholarship through the World Olympians Association and the World Federation of Chiropractic, to study chiropractic at Parker College of Chiropractic. Gardner graduated from Parker College in August 2009 with a 4.0 GPA, Summa Cum Laude as the class valedictorian. He also received two Bachelor of Science degrees in Anatomy and Health & Wellness. Gardner opened his chiropractic clinic, Gardner Chiropractic & Wellness Center, in December 2009 in Richardson, Texas.