Dec. 31, 2012

OXFORD, Miss. – Brittney Reese has been one of her sport’s top performers since shining at Ole Miss from 2007-08.

This year, she cemented her place as one of the world’s best in track and field with a gold medal in the long jump at the London Olympics.

As various media outlets’ year-end stories are being published, Reese is all over the headlines.

The Sun Herald named Reese’s gold medal performance the No. 1 sports story in South Mississippi for 2012.

And for the second straight year, she has been tabbed the Clarion-Ledger’s Sportswoman of the Year, this time sharing the honor with fellow Olympic gold medalist Bianca Knight.

Reese is one of six athletes to ever be named Clarion-Ledger Sports Person of the Year multiple times, including Knight, Steve McNair, Calvin Smith, Larry Myricks and Walter Payton. Other recent honorees with Ole Miss ties include Devin Britton (2009), Houston Nutt (2008), Van Chancellor (2004) and Eli Manning (2003).

Among her accomplishments this year, the Gulfport native became the first American woman to win the Olympic long jump title since Jackie Joyner-Kersee in 1988. She also became the first Ole Miss track and field alum to claim an Olympic gold medal.

In addition to her gold medal in London, Reese has won four world titles in the long jump (2009 outdoor, 2010 indoor, 2011 outdoor, 2012 indoor).

She began her journey to global fame when she won the 2008 NCAA indoor and outdoor long jump championships while a member of the Ole Miss track team. In her two-year career with the Rebels, she was a five-time All-American, five-time SEC champion and was named the 2008 Women's National Field Athlete of the Year by the USTFCCCA.