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Pauline Davis-Thompson                  Position: Assistant Coach

Pauline Davis-Thompson is in her first year as a full-time assistant coach on J.J. Clark's staff at Tennessee, working with the Lady Vol sprints/jumps/hurdles group. The elite level coach, who was an Olympic gold medalist for the Bahamas and an NCAA and Southeastern Conference champion at Alabama during her collegiate career, spent the 2007 campaign serving as a volunteer coach.

Davis-Thompson joined the Lady Vol program after a stint as the founder and coach of PDT International Track Club, where she trained elite-level post-collegiate athletes. Additionally, she had served since 1989 as the district marketing manager of sports tourism for the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism in Atlanta, Ga.

Since founding PDT International Track Club in 2002, Davis-Thompson has been coaching world-class sprinters, such as two-time Olympic gold medalist Monique Hennagan of the U.S., Olympian Christine Amertil and Addis Huyler of the Bahamas and Pete-Gaye Dowdie of Jamaica.

In addition to her two previously-mentioned duties, Davis-Thompson also has held two key track & field governance positions since 2003, underscoring the high regard accorded her from people in the sport. Globally, she has served as a women's committee member for the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), responsible for establishing policies and procedures for promoting women in track & field throughout the world. For her home country, she has filled a role as Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations (BAAA) international coordinator, serving as a liaison between the BAAA federation and overseas-based athletes.

The first Bahamian to win an individual Olympic medal on the oval, Davis-Thompson claimed silver in the 200 meters at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia, finishing behind American Marion Jones. With Jones' admission of using performance-enhancing substances and the return of her gold medal, Davis-Thompson might one day trade her silver medal for a gold one to match the first-place award she won when she joined her countrywomen as the third leg in winning the 4x1 at that Olympiad.

The five-time Olympian and seven-time World Championships competitor retired after that career-topping effort in the 4x1 in 2000 but not before achieving status as a heroine in her country. Because of her performance with the Bahamian 4x100m relay team that earned a silver medal at the 1996 Olympiad in Atlanta, that group of young ladies became known as "The Golden Girls." They have been honored with a mural bearing their image that greets visitors at the Nassau International Airport, a postage stamp was issued in their honor, and, in 1998, the Governor-General of the Bahamas presented the Golden Girls with a silver Jubilee Award for their contributions to athletics.

The Bahamas' former national record-holder in the 400 meters, Davis-Thompson ran collegiately at Alabama, where she graduated in 1989 with a B.A. in communications and a minor in English. The Crimson Tide standout won the NCAA Indoor 200m dash in 1988 and took the NCAA Outdoor 400m crown in 1989, setting a collegiate record of 50.18 seconds.

On the SEC level, Davis-Thompson was a multiple champion, winning outdoor crowns in the 100m dash from 1986 to 1988 and in the 200m dash in 1986 and 1988, and claiming indoor titles in the 55m and 200m in 1988. UA also raced to SEC Outdoor 4x100m relay titles in 1986 and 1987 and hoisted the SEC Outdoor team trophy in 1986. In 2005, she was recognized in the SEC Greats Program, which was designed to honor those who helped establish the rich athletic tradition in the conference.

Davis-Thompson is married to Jamaican Olympian and Brown University graduate Mark Thompson. The two met at the 1992 Games and were wed in 1998.