A gold and a silver! Yes, that’s what Rai Benjamin took home last Olympics. He is again in the race, sailing high in the tracks of 400m hurdles. Although the hurdlers are all alone on their tracks, it takes them the guidance and input of a coach to even reach the starting point. And what happens if the coach is a gold medalist, to begin with?

That’s right, the World No. 2 in men’s all-time list, Rai Benjamin, has been fortunate to get trained by one of the most accomplished athletes in his 400m hurdles forte. His guiding coach has not only brought the best out of the players but has a stellar athletic legacy of her own. Here’s all you need to know about Benjamin’s coach, Joanna Hayes.

Meet the coach of Olympian Rai Benjamin: Joanna Hayes

The 47-year-old Joanna Hayes has been a UCLA Athletic Hall of Famer, and she now works there and hones a whole new generation of potential. She is the assistant coach of sprints and hurdles currently, after eight long years of transitions from assistant coach to volunteer and back to her full-time role. But did you know how she has taken the Trojans to five All-American honors across both indoor seasons as well as outdoor ones? But that was only the beginning of her coaching career.

Besides the World No. 2 on the world men’s all-time list, the mighty Rai Benjamin of 400 hurdles, Olympic Gold Medalist Hayes has also coached Sydney McLaughlin. She is a women’s world record holder and has achieved the title of a current American record holder in 400m hurdles.

Hayes has been given the award of the 2018 West Region Women’s Track Assistant Coach of the Year. Along with that, she has achieved several other titles as such. According to USC Trojans, “Hayes earned 2023 USTFCCCA West Region Men’s Indoor Assistant Coach of the Year as she coached Tade Ojora and Johnny Brackins Jr. to the NCAA Indoor Championships in the 60m hurdles, with Ojora ranking No.1 and Brackins Jr. No. 3 during the regular season.”

This coach certainly has a high-profile list of trainees, but she herself has been one such athlete in her time. Let us take a look at Hayes’ athletic career before she became a coach.

Athletic achievements of Coach Hayes

The biggest achievement in Hayes’ book is certainly the 100m hurdle Olympic gold medal from 2004. However, her first big achievement came in when she made her career best of 54.57 at the 1999 Summer Universiade. This was also the tournament from which she took home her first silver.

In 2003, Hayes was also in form. She received the Pan American Games gold for the 400m hurdles that year in Santo Domingo. Hayes has also been the winner of the World Athletics Final in 2004, and the following year, she finished as the second runner-up in the same event. 2004 was certainly her year! Hayes also participated in the 2004 World Indoor Championships, finishing fourth. Although she wished to participate in the 2008 Olympics again, she had to withdraw for the sake of her injuries.

Now that Coach Hayes has trained the 6’3″ Rai Benjamin, do you think the hurdler will bring back yet another medal?