My Take
Aries Merritt is one of those athletes who reminds you just how thin the line is between greatness and tragedy — and how sometimes a person crosses back over it. The Chicago-born hurdler had what I'd call a perfect storm of a year in 2012: Olympic gold in London and then, just weeks later, a world record of 12.80 seconds in the 110m hurdles that still stands as of 2024. That combination alone cements his legacy. But what really gets me is the 2016 story — the guy competed in the Rio Olympics on one functioning kidney, having just donated the other to his sister, and still managed to bronze. That's not athletic achievement, that's something else entirely. I think Merritt is criminally underappreciated outside of track circles, and frankly deserves to be talked about in the same breath as the all-time greats of the hurdles.
Overview
Aries Merritt (born July 24, 1985) is an American track and field athlete who specialized in the 110 metre hurdles, and currently holds the world record in that event with a time of 12.80 s set on September 7, 2012. He won the gold medal in the 110 metre hurdles at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Aries Merritt
- Name (Japanese)
- アリエス・メリット
- Reading
- ありえす・めりっと
- Born
- July 24, 1985 (age 40)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Leo / Ox
- Origin
- Chicago, Illinois, United States
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- 185 cm
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- hurdler / athletics competitor
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Joseph Wheeler High School
- University
- University of Tennessee
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.