Josh Hembrough Kirby Lee
HURDLES:
with having fun in life, he boasts the ability to eat eight hot dogs without the bun in under one minute.
When he lined up at the start of the 60m hurdles final at the recent USA Indoor Track & Field Championships, the only noticeable thing separating him from the rest of the field was his white Nike headband. That headband, which makes Hembrough laugh when he tells the story of why he began wearing it, is worn out of necessity rather than fashion.
He is also a student of the sport and appreciates the history. He points to Allen Johnson as his favorite track and field athlete and can recite times the hall of famer ran as late as age 36.
Born deaf, Hembrough has spent his life clearing hurdles both literally and figuratively. While most would consider his condition a disability, he is clear in his philosophy that his journey is about overcoming the struggles you are faced with. Few athletes have been able to do it better than Hembrough.
“A lot of people can look at it different ways,” he said. “But the way that I look at it is that it’s all about overcoming struggles and overcoming what you have. It will take the best out of you.”
The best from Hembrough has been at a high level. At Purdue University, he won three Big Ten indoor and outdoor titles, earned NCAA Division I All-American honors and was selected to the All-Big 10 Academic team. Now competing away from college, he placed fifth in March at the USA Indoor Championships.
Competing at the 2008 Olympic Trials and in the past two USA indoor championships, he has raced the best in the world such as Aries Merritt and David Oliver.
And as far as deaf athletes go, he is the best the world has ever seen, holding the Deaflympics world record in the 110m hurdles at 14.16, which he set in 2009 in Taipei City, Taiwan. He has equal goals for this summer’s Deaflympics in Sofia, Bulgaria.
While there are still barriers in communication, the use of a cochlear implant has allowed Hembrough to communicate freely during a typical day and allows him to hear the starter’s gun. To keep his implant in place, Hembrough has worn a headband since the seventh grade. In middle school, while running the 200m hurdles, he knocked the hearing device from his ear. Somehow he was able to catch it and finish and win the race while holding his implant. At that point it seems little was impossible.
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