Crystal Cox

{{short description|American track and field athlete|bot=PearBOT 5}}

{{Infobox sportsperson

| name = Crystal Cox

| image =

| birth_name = Crystal Shinelle Cox{{cite web|url=https://www.ancestryinstitution.com/search/?name=Crystal_Cox&event=_norfolk-virginia-usa_24283&birth=1979&successSource=Search&queryId=441c17e1f77491f5a9feacaf9c54b5ed |title=Crystal Shinelle Cox |website=Ancestry Institute |publisher=Ancestry |access-date=November 20, 2022}}

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|mf=yes|1979|3|28}}

| birth_place = Norfolk, Virginia, U.S.

}}

Crystal Shinelle Cox (born March 28, 1979, in Norfolk, Virginia) is an American track and field athlete who was on the national team at the 2004 Athens Summer Olympics and appeared as a contestant on the seventeenth season of the reality series Survivor.

Career

Cox was an All-American sprinter for the North Carolina Tar Heels track and field team, finishing 8th in the 4 × 100 m at the 1998 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships.{{cite web |url=https://www.ustfccca.org/records-lists/meet-history-by-event?gender=2&series=3369&event=18 |title=4 × 100 meters relay at the NCAA Division I Women's Outdoor Track and Field Championships |website=USTFCCCA |access-date=28 December 2024}} {{Cite web |url=https://trackandfieldnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/ncaaw4x1.pdf |title=Track and Field News NCAA Outdoor w4x1 |website=Track and Field News |access-date=28 December 2024}}

She won a gold medal in the women's 4x400 m relay at the 2004 Athens Summer Olympics. She was later stripped of the gold in 2012 after she admitted to doping.{{cite news|url=http://www.nj.com/olympics/index.ssf/2012/07/american_sprinter_crystal_cox.html|title=American sprinter Crystal Cox stripped of 2004 Olympic Gold Medal in 4X400 relay}} In Athens she ran in the preliminary round but not in the final. DeeDee Trotter, Monique Henderson, Sanya Richards and Monique Hennagan ran in the final. In 2004, she was the American indoor 200 m champion.

On January 29, 2010, the Associated Press and ESPN.com reported that Cox admitted to using anabolic steroids from 2001 to 2004. As a result, she forfeited all of her results from that time period, and agreed to a four-year suspension that ended in January 2014.{{cite web|url=https://www.espn.com/espn/print?id=4870099&type=story|title=Relay team member suspended 4 years|agency=Associated Press|date=January 29, 2010|work=ESPN.com|access-date=January 29, 2010}} The IAAF has recommended that the whole U.S. women's 2004 Olympic 4x400 metres relay team be stripped of their medals.{{cite news|url=https://af.reuters.com/articlePrint?articleId=AFJOE62E0QG20100315|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180924033345/https://af.reuters.com/articlePrint?articleId=AFJOE62E0QG20100315|url-status=dead|archive-date=September 24, 2018|title=IAAF to recommend US relay team be stripped of gold |work=Reuters|date=March 15, 2010|access-date=March 16, 2010|first=Gene|last=Cherry}} In 2013, both the IAAF and the IOC announced that the American squad (except Cox) would be allowed to retain their gold medals.{{cite web|url=http://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1014467/exclusive-usa-allowed-to-keep-athens-2004-4x400m-relay-gold-medals-despite-drugs-admission |work=BBC Sport |title=USA allowed to keep Athens 2004 relay gold|date=May 31, 2013 |access-date=November 23, 2016}}

''Survivor''

Cox was one of the contestants in Survivor: Gabon, which premiered in fall 2008.{{cite web|url=http://www.cbs.com/primetime/survivor/bio/crystal_17/bio.php?season=17|work=CBS.com|title=Crystal Cox bio|access-date=August 27, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090207054428/http://www.cbs.com/primetime/survivor/bio/crystal_17/bio.php?season=17|archive-date=February 7, 2009|url-status=dead}} Cox's tribe lost 11 of the 13 tribal challenges, though she made it to the final six. Her main alliance consisted of Kenny Hoang, Jessica "Sugar" Kiper, Susie Smith, and Matty Whitmore. On the December 11, 2008, episode, Cox was voted out and became the fifth member of the jury.

In May 2023, Cox competed as a celebrity tribe captain in the second season of the NMB Celebrity Survivor Challenge. She reached the final tribal council and tied as the runner-up.{{Cite web |title= NMB Survivor Challenges - Season 2|url=https://www.nmbjrsurvivorcamp.com/events/celebrity-challenge/season-2}}

References

External links

{{World Athletics||name=Crystal Cox}}
[http://www.trackandfield.com/bios/women/crystal-cox/ Crystal Cox] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100406051105/http://www.trackandfield.com/bios/women/crystal-cox |date=April 6, 2010 }} at Trackandfield.com
[http://www.cbs.com/shows/survivor/cast/21245/ Crystal Cox biography] for Survivor: Gabon at CBS.com
[http://www.nj.com/olympics/index.ssf/2012/07/american_sprinter_crystal_cox.html American sprinter Crystal Cox stripped of 2004 Olympic Gold Medal in 4X400 relay]'' at nj.com

{{USA Indoor Track and Field Championships winners in women's 200 m}}

Category:1979 births

Category:Living people

Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 2003 Pan American Games

Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics

Category:American female sprinters

Category:Sportspeople from Norfolk, Virginia

Category:Track and field athletes from Virginia

Category:Olympic track and field athletes for the United States

Category:Doping cases in athletics

Category:Survivor (franchise) contestants

Category:African-American track and field athletes